For instance, Stuart's double portrait Mrs. The influence of Cosmo Alexander as well as some reliance on English portrait mezzotints is apparent in Stuart's early Newport works. He worked as a crew member on a collier bound for Nova Scotia and eventually arrived home in Newport, where he continued to paint portraits. Alexander died unexpectedly on August 25, 1772, leaving the seventeen-year-old Stuart stranded in Edinburgh. In 1770 Stuart accompanied Alexander on a painting tour that included stops in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Virginia before their voyage to Edinburgh. Alexander gave Stuart art lessons and employed him as an assistant. Hunter had recognized and encouraged Stuart's talent and around 1765 commissioned the boy to paint a portrait of his spaniels (Hunter House, Newport, Rhode Island). William Hunter, introduced him to the young Stuart.
1724≡772), an Italian-trained Scottish artist who was visiting Newport.
Stuart's early artistic inclinations have been frequently discussed. Here, as noted in an advertisement published in the Newport Mercury, he "Continues to Make and Sell, Superfine Flour of Mustard," as well as other goods. When he was a young boy, Stuart's family moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where the artist's father ran a shop at the north corner of Banister's Row. The artist was baptized as Gilbert Stewart at St. After arriving in this country, the elder Stuart built and operated a snuff mill in North Kingston, Rhode Island. Stuart was the youngest of three children born to the Scottish snuff maker Gilbert Stuart and Elizabeth Anthony. Charles Willson Peale reminded his son Rembrandt Peale (1778≡860) in 1805, "I hope you will by a little more practice please the ladies equally well if not better than Stewart." 5 4 Even other artists compared their work with Stuart's. 3 "It will not look as well as Stuart but it will do," stated a Boston man about a portrait by another artist. As the Boston poet Sarah Wentworth Morton wrote about Stuart's portraits in 1803, "'Tis character that breathes, 'tis soul that twines / Round the rich canvas, trac'd in living lines." 2 Another sitter declared that a Stuart portrait "was very desirable" and remained the standard of comparison.
WASHINGTON PORTRAIT PAINTER PROFESSIONAL
He belonged to a new class of professional portrait painters that wanted to create more than just a flattering representation of a sitter. With his sophisticated technique and knowledge of the latest London styles, Stuart sought to make an artistic statement using decorative brushwork and glowing colors. Best known for his portraits of George Washington, Stuart painted more than a thousand portraits of the next four presidents of the United States, governors, diplomats, merchants, military heroes, judges, ministers, college presidents, and other leaders of the new nation as well as their wives and children.
1 After training in London with the American artist Benjamin West and achieving success in the tight London portrait market and in Ireland, Stuart won acclaim in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and finally Boston. Gilbert Stuart was America's leading portraitist of the Federal period, and he set a standard for portraiture that would continue even after his death in 1828. Born North Kingston, R.I., December 3, 1755.
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