Allan Ramsey was an 18th century portrait painter. He was a rival of Sir. Joshua Reynolds, who was the most prominent portrait painter of his time. Ramsey studied portraiture in London and in Naples under Solimena and painted many portraits of aristocratic and noble women. During the 1780’s, Ramsey had taken up archaeology and was living in Italy. A catalogue raisonné of his work was produced in 1999 by the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art at Yale University.