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| Gilbert Charles Stuart |
| 1755-1828 |
| American Artist |
| Stuart was born in North Kingston, Rhode Island. He grew up in the trading city of Newport, where itinerant Scottish portraitist Cosmo Alexander gave him his earliest training in painting. On the eve of the American Revolution, he went to London, where he worked for five years as assistant to the Anglo-American painter Benjamin West. Stuart returned to the United States in 1793, planning to paint a portrait of George Washington that would establish his reputation in America. He painted the president in the winter or early spring of 1795. His success led immediately to many other commissions. His sitters were politically prominent and wealthy, from the merchant and landed classes. An 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. |
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