(1781 - 1859)
Portrait painter Thomas Stewardson was the son of John and Anne Stewardson, members of a Quaker family at Ullsmoor, who lived in Kendal, Westmorland. Stewardson initially worked as an apprentice to a painter named John Fothergill, in Kendal, before studying under George Romney in the same town. He later moved to London and, in 1803, began exhibiting at the Royal Academy. He may have studied briefly with John Opie in London, where he was influenced by the portraits of Sir Thomas Lawrence. As well as numerous portraits, his works also include exotic, Orientalist subjects.
