Gilbert Stuart is born on December 3, 1755, in Saunderstown, a village of North Kingstown in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and he is baptized at Old Narragansett Church on April 11, 1756. He is a son of Gilbert Stewart and Elizabeth Anthony Stewart.
Stuart moves to Newport, Rhode Island at the age of six, where his father pursues work in the merchant field. In Newport, he first begins to show great promise as a painter. In 1770, he makes the acquaintance of Scottish artist Cosmo Alexander. Under the guidance of Alexander, Stuart paints the portrait Dr. Hunter's Spaniels when he was 14.
In 1771, Stuart moves to Scotland with Alexander to finish his studies; however, Alexander dies in Edinburgh one year later. Stuart tries to maintain a living and pursues his painting career, but to no avail, so he returns to Newport in 1773.
Stuart's prospects as a portraitist are jeopardized by the onset of the American Revolution. He is a Loyalist and departs for England in 1775. He is unsuccessful at first in pursuit of his vocation, but he becomes a protégé of Benjamin West in 1777 and studies with him for the next six years. Stuart exhibits for the first time at the Royal Academy in spring of 1777.
By 1782, Stuart meets success, due to acclaim for The Skater. It is Stuart's first full-length portrait.
Stuart marries Charlotte Coates around September 1786. Together they have 12 children, five of whom die by 1815 and two others die while they were young.
Despite his many commissions, he is habitually neglectful of finances and is in danger of being sent to debtors' prison. In 1787, he flees to Dublin, Ireland where he paints and accumulates debt with equal vigor.
Stuart ends his 18-year stay in Britain and Ireland in 1793, leaving behind numerous unfinished paintings. He returns to the United States to paint a portrait of George Washington. He settles briefly in New York City and pursues portrait commissions from influential people who could bring him to Washington's attention. In 1794, he paints statesman John Jay, from whom he receives a letter of introduction to Washington. In 1795, Stuart moves to Germantown, Philadelphia where he opens a studio, and Washington poses for him later that year. Over half of the canvas is blank. His unfinished 1796 painting of George Washington is also known as The Athenaeum, his most celebrated and famous work and is portrayed on the United States one-dollar bill. Stuart paints about 75 reproductions of The Athenaeum.
Stuart moves to Devonshire Street in Boston in 1805, continuing in both critical acclaim and financial troubles. He exhibits his works locally.
In 1824, he suffers a stroke which leaves him partially paralyzed, but he continues to paint for two years until his death in Boston on July 9, 1828, at 72. He was buried in the Old South Burial Ground of the Boston Common.
Stuart leaves his family deeply in debt, and his wife and daughters were unable to purchase a grave site. He is buried in an unmarked grave. His family recovers from their financial troubles 10 years later, and they planned to move his body to a family cemetery in Newport. However, they could not remember the exact location of his body, and it is never moved. There is a monument for Stuart, his wife, and their children at the Common Burying Ground in Newport.
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Categories: Painters | American Painters | Portrait Painters | Rhode Island, Notables | Saunderstown, Rhode Island | Narragansett, Rhode Island | Newport, Rhode Island | Boston, Massachusetts | Germantown, Pennsylvania | Central Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts | Common Burying Ground, Newport, Rhode Island | United States, Artists | Notables