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Stuart introduced to America the loose, brushy style
used by many of the leading artists of late eighteenth century
London. He recorded likenesses of lawyers, politicians, diplomats,
native Americans, their wives and children. His sitters included
many prominent Americans, among them the first five presidents,
their advisors, families, and admirers. He is known especially
for his numerous portraits of George Washington.
Born in 1755 in North Kingston, Rhode Island, Stuart
was baptized with his name spelled "Stewart". His father,
an immigrant Scot, built and operated a snuff mill that may have
led to the artist's addiction to snuff. He grew up in the trading
city of Newport, where itinerant Scottish portraitist Cosmo Alexander
(1724-1772) gave him his earliest training in painting. He accompanied
Alexander to Scotland in 1771, returning home at the older artist's
death. Three years later in 1775, on the eve of the American
Revolution, he went to London, where he worked for five years
(1777-1782) as assistant to the Anglo-American painter Benjamin
West. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1777 to 1785, using
the name Gilbert Charles Stuart the first year. The success of
The Skater, painted in 1782, enabled him to establish his own
business as a portrait painter. In 1786 Stuart married Charlotte
Coates, and the following year they went to Dublin, where Stuart
painted portraits of the Protestant ruling minority for over
five years.
Stuart returned to the United States in 1793, planning
to paint a portrait of George Washington that would establish
his reputation in America. After about a year in New York City,
he went to Philadelphia, the capital of the United States, with
a letter of introduction to Washington from John Jay. He painted
the president in the winter or early spring of 1795. He was not
satisfied with his first life portrait of Washington, but others
were. Martha Washington commissioned a second and Mrs. William
Bingham commissioned two full-lengths. His success led immediately
to many other commissions. His sitters were politically prominent
and wealthy, from the merchant and landed classes. After Washington,
D.C. became the new national capital, Stuart moved there in December
of 1803, and this group continued as his patrons. There he painted
the Madisons, Jefferson,
the Thorntons, and others from Jefferson's administration.
In the summer of 1805 Stuart settled in Boston. In
his Roxbury studio he continued to paint politically and socially
prominent sitters and, on request, to make replicas of his second
"Athenaeum" portrait of George Washington. Throughout
his life younger artists, including John
Trumbull, Thomas Sully, Rembrandt Peale, and John Vanderlyn,
sought his advice and imitated his work. Among his students were
his children Charles Gilbert (1787-1813) and Jane (1812-1888).
One indication of Stuart's popularity is the number of portraits
he painted, over a thousand during his long career, excluding
copies of the portraits of Washington. Another indication is
the number of copies of his work that other artists made. His
sitters indicated their fascination for his talent and personality
by recording lengthy anecdotes and descriptions of their sittings,
producing an unusally rich written record about an American portraitist.
Stuart died in Boston in 1828. |
Gilbert Stuart