Gilbert Stuart

American, 1755 - 1828

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American painter (1755–1828)

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Shown from the chest up, a balding, light-skinned man wears a port-red vest and coat in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s shoulders are angled to our right, but he turns his head to look at us from the corners of gray eyes under heavy, brown brows. His under-eyes are shaded blue and lined with wrinkles. He has a bumped nose, bow-shaped lips, a round chin, fleshy, flushed cheeks, and sagging jowls. His white hair sweeps up and to either side of a bald patch, painted with a white sheen, on the top of his head. Curls come down over each ear and longer hair in the back is tied with a black ribbon. He wears a white ruffled cravat under the deep red vest and coat, both of which have gold-colored buttons down the front. The background lightens from earth brown in the upper left corner to paler, peanut brown in the lower right.
Gilbert Stuart, John Adams, c. 1821, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.4.1

John Adams

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1821 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1979.4.1

Shown from the chest up, a cleanshaven man with pale, rosy skin and curled white hair looks off to our right against a dark, olive-green curtain in the background of this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are angled slightly to our right, and he looks into the distance with blue eyes. His right brow, to our left, is arched, and his eyes are deeply set. His flushed cheeks and jowls sag a bit around his closed mouth, and there are lines under his eyes. His white gray hair seems to be pulled back from his forehead and swells in bushy curls over his ears. Part of a black ribbon seen beyond his shoulder may tie his hair back. He wears a bright white, high-necked, ruffled shirt under a black jacket. Light illuminates the man and the green curtain from our left.
Gilbert Stuart, James Madison, c. 1821, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.4.2

James Madison

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1821 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1979.4.2

Shown from the chest up, a cleanshaven, middle-aged man with pale skin and silvery gray hair, wearing a white, ruffled shirt under a velvety black, high-necked jacket, looks out at us in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he turns his face slightly to look at us with gray eyes under slightly arched eyebrows. He has a long nose and his thin lips are closed in a straight line. Shadows define slightly sagging jowls along his jawline and down his neck. His light gray hair is pulled back from his forehead and swells in bushy curls over his ears. Part of a black ribbon seen beyond his shoulder ties his hair back. Light illuminates the person from our left and creates a golden glow on the light brown background behind him.
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, c. 1821, oil on wood, Gift of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge IV in memory of his great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge II, and his father, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge III, 1979.5.1

George Washington

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1821 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1979.5.1

Shown from the chest up, a clean shaven, middle-aged man with pale, rosy skin and curly, pewter-gray hair, looks at or toward us against a caramel-brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he turns his face slightly to look our way with honey-brown eyes under straight, faint eyebrows. He has a long, prominent nose, and his pink lips are closed in a straight line. His gray hair is parted in the middle, curls around his face, and down the back of his neck. He wears a bright white, high-necked, ruffled shirt under a velvety black jacket. Light illuminating the man from our left creates a golden glow on the light brown background behind him.
Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Jefferson, c. 1821, oil on wood, Gift of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge IV in memory of his great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge II, and his father, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge III, 1986.71.1

Thomas Jefferson

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1821 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1986.71.1

Gilbert Stuart, Joseph Coolidge, 1820, oil on wood, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1940.1.3

Joseph Coolidge

Gilbert Stuart · 1820 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1940.1.3

Gilbert Stuart, James Monroe, c. 1817, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.4.3

James Monroe

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1817 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1979.4.3

Gilbert Stuart, Commodore Thomas Macdonough, c. 1815/1818, oil on wood, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1942.8.17

Commodore Thomas Macdonough

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1815/1818 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1942.8.17

Gilbert Stuart, Sarah Homes Tappan (Mrs. Benjamin Tappan), 1814, oil on wood, Gift of Lady Vereker, 1970.34.3

Sarah Homes Tappan (Mrs. Benjamin Tappan)

Gilbert Stuart · 1814 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.34.3

Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin Tappan, 1814, oil on wood, Gift of Lady Vereker, 1970.34.2

Benjamin Tappan

Gilbert Stuart · 1814 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.34.2

Gilbert Stuart, Samuel Alleyne Otis, 1811/1813, oil on wood, Gift of the Honorable and Mrs. Robert H. Thayer, 1980.11.2

Samuel Alleyne Otis

Gilbert Stuart · 1811/1813 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1980.11.2

Bibliography

1876

  • Stuart, Jane. "The Stuart Portraits of Washington." Scribner's Monthly 12, no. 3 (July 1876): 367-374.

1926

  • Park 1926.

1931

  • Morgan & Fielding 1931, 211-361.

1932

  • Eisen 1932, vol. 1.

  • Whitley, William Thomas. Gilbert Stuart. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932.

1939

  • Morgan 1939.

1967

  • Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic, 1755-1828, Exh. Cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1967

1979

  • DeLorme, Eleanor Pearson. "Gilbert Stuart; Portrait of an Artist." Winterthur Portfolio 14, no. 4 (Winter 1979): 339-360.

1980

  • Evans, Dorinda. Benjamin West and His American Students. Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Washington, 1980: 52-59.

1986

  • McLanathan, Richard. Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1986.

1990

  • Crean, Hugh R. Gilbert Stuart and the Politics of Fine Arts Patronage in Ireland, 1787-1793: A Social and Cultural Study. Ann Arbor, MI, 1990.

1993

  • Evans, Dorinda. "Survival and Transformation: The Colonial Portrait in the Federal Era." In The Portrait in Eighteenth-Century America. Edited by Ellen G. Miles. Newark and London, 1993: 123-137.

1995

  • Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 160-162.