Gilbert Stuart
(1755-1828), PainterArtist associated with 61 portraits
American-born Stuart sailed to Scotland with his mentor, portraitist Cosmo Alexander, in around 1772. He arrived in London in 1775 with little money and few prospects. He was hired by portraitist Benjamin West as a drapery painter; his own work improved and within two years was exhibiting at the Royal Academy. By 1782, Stuart was a successful portrait painter but, always careless financially, he was twice imprisoned for debt. In 1787, he moved to Dublin, where he continued both to paint and to accumulate debt. Stuart returned to the United States in 1793 living first in New York and then moving to Philadelphia where he set up a highly successful portrait studio.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.