Gilbert Stuart was born with talent and skills in painting. Has details of his life and work in the portrait painting industry.

There are many famous portrait painters around the world.

We are probably familiar with Leonardo Da Vinci with his Mona Lisa. In fact, this portrait is very popular and many people have appreciated its beauty and elegance over the years. One of the famous American portrait painters is Gilbert Charles Stuart who is known as one of the best portraits. He was the one who worked on George Washington’s portrait but was unlucky he couldn’t finish it because of his death. As of now, pictures have appeared on one dollar bills.

As one of the finest portrait painters, Gilbert Stuart has painted over a thousand portraits of different people including the six presidents of the United States. If you live somewhere in the United States and Britain, you can still find his works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Like several portrait painters, Stuart was born into a wealthy and prominent family. Stuart began to show a talent for painting in Newport, Rhode Island and he promised himself to become one of the most recognizable portrait painters in the world. He became successful with the help of his coach Cosmo Alexander and he painted a portrait of Dr. Hunter’s Spaniels currently found in the Hunter House Mansion in Newport

George Washington Portrait

We can say that portrait painters also experienced frustration. As such, Stuart is no exception. After Alexander’s death, he found himself without income in his profession which forced him to return to Newport in 1773.

The onset of the American Revolution and its social disruption had jeopardized Stuart’s ambitions. He continued to struggle and he left for England in 1775 where he studied for six years. Stuart met his success in 1782 by painting a portrait of William Grant known as “The Skater”. He went to Dublin, Ireland and moved to Germantown, Pennsylvania where he opened an art studio. Stuart painted George Washington in a series of iconic portraits, each of which led to a request for a copy that had kept Stuart busy and heavily paid over the years. “Lansdowne is another Washington portrait (by Stuart) that still hangs in the East Room of the White House. This portrait was fortunately saved by the interference of First Lady Dolley Madison Paul Jennings during the attack by British troops. In all, Stuart has painted twelve versions of the portrait and the country- US states grabbed their own copy currently hanging from their country’s capitol.

Like everyone else, portrait painters are human beings who have to leave the world. Gilbert Stuart suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed. With this traumatic situation, he continued painting for two years until he died at the age of seventy-two. No one knows where he was buried because his family were unable to move his body in Newport. But then, his existence is still recognized since some of his portraits are still seen in several art museums.