Joseph Allen (1770–1845), Fellow, Bishop of Bristol (1834–1836), Bishop of Ely (1836–1843)

Phillips's portrait of Joseph Allen from 1837 depicts the Anglican bishop whose career took him from Cambridge fellowship to the bishoprics of Bristol and Ely—a trajectory typical of the academically distinguished clergymen who provided the intellectual leadership of the early Victorian Church. The 1837 date places this in the period of Allen's episcopacy, when the Church of England was navigating the turbulent aftermath of Catholic emancipation and the Reform Act while also responding to the intellectual challenges of the Oxford Movement. Phillips's episcopal portraiture served the institutional documentation of Church leadership, and his Allen portrait would have been displayed in the official rooms of the episcopal palace.

The episcopal portrait presents Allen in the vestments appropriate to his rank, rendered with Phillips's professional attention to liturgical detail. The face conveys the scholarly authority expected of a Fellow-turned-bishop. The institutional setting at Trinity provides appropriate context for the dual academic and ecclesiastical career.