Volume 8 Number 112

Gilbert Stuart Part I

Lead: Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George

Washington, which appears on the one-dollar bill,
was, ironically, an unfinished portrait, but through
numerous reproductions, it has become an American
icon.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Born in 1755, Gilbert Charles Stuart

was the son of a snuff miller. He grew up near
Newport, Rhode Island. Stuart demonstrated an
early talent for drawing, and about the age of 14, he
began his study under an itinerant Scottish portrait
painter, Cosmo Alexander. Working as his assistant,
Stuart accompanied Alexander through the southern
colonies and then to Edinburgh. The untimely death
of Cosmo Alexander left Gilbert Stuart stranded in
Europe without funds. He worked his way back to
America from London as a crewman on a collier.

Hostilities between Britain and her North

American colonies were heating up in 1775 when
nineteen-year-old Stuart returned to London. His
father was a loyalist and Gilbert saw his chances of a
career as an artist were better in Europe. It was a
struggle at first, but after five years as an apprentice
to American painter Benjamin West, Stuart received
his first public recognition. His portrait, The Skater
(now hanging in the National Gallery of Art),
received high praise at the Royal Academy in 1782.
Stuart opened his own studio and began painting the
wealthy and prominent of Europe’s elite, Kings
George III, George IV and French King Louis XVI.
With his high fees Stuart acquired expensive tastes.

His extravagant lifestyle brought with it debt,

and in 1787 he fled London to escape his creditors.
Stuart spent five years in Dublin, at least some of the
time in debtors’ prison, painting portraits to earn
his release. In 1793 Stuart returned to America,
leaving behind debt, a cluster of unfinished
commissions, and a shattered reputation. Next Time:
the unfinished Washington. Research assistance by
Ann Homans Johnson, at the University of
Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.
 Resources

Evans, Dorinda. The Genius of Gilbert Stuart. Princeton:

University Press, 1999.

“Gilbert Stuart Birthplace”

http:/www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/6365/stuarthist.ht
ml

Meisler, Stanley. “Gilbert Stuart.” Smithsonian August 2001: 60-

66.

National Gallery of Art, Tour: Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-

1828) Overview
http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg60a/gg60a-
over1.html

“Stuart, Gilbert” Early American Paintings

http://www.worcesterart.org/Collection/Early_American/Ar
tists/stuart/biography/content.html

“Stuart, Gilbert” Encyclopedia Britannica

http://www.britannica.comm/eb/article?eu=71843[Accessed
November 22, 2002].

Copyright by Dan Roberts Enterprises, Inc.