(1755 - 1828)
Gilbert Charles Stuart was born near Saunderstown, Rhode Island; the son of an inventor and snuff-mill operator. At 14 he became an assistant to Scottish painter C. Alexander. He sailed to Scotland with Alexander in c.1772 but returned by 1774. He relocated to London in 1775 and worked in the studio of B. West. In London J. Boydell commissioned 15 portraits and Lord Percy at least three. Stuart married Charlotte Coates and had twelve children. He moved to Dublin in 1787 and was imprisoned for debt several times before leaving for New York. He worked there until 1795, when he moved to Philadelphia. Here, he met G. Washington, whom he painted three times. He moved to the District of Columbia in 1803 and to Boston in 1805, where he died at 72.
