Gilbert Stuart

by Carrie Rebora Barratt and Ellen G. Miles

• ISBN13: 9780300104950
• ISBN10: 0300104952
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2004-09-10
• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Summary

The most successful and resourceful portraitist of America's early national period, Gilbert Stuart (17551828) possessed enormous natural talent, bringing his witty and irascible manner to bear on each of his works. This handsome book highlights Stuart's achievements by presenting more than ninety portraits of exceptional quality, ranging from the early works he produced in Newport, Rhode Island, to those he executed just before his death in Boston.Carrie Rebora Barratt and Ellen G. Miles show how Stuart developed and maintained a distinctive portrait style, tailoring his portrayals to fit his subjects. They trace the development of his art from his hometown of Newport, where he proved his talent, to his years in London and Dublin, where he mastered the techniques of the English late-eighteenth-century Grand Manner, to his return to America (no longer the Colonies but now the United States), where he dealt with clients in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Boston. The authors provide a short essay about Stuart in each of the sites of his production, which introduces the works painted there. There is also a special section devoted to Stuart's famous and popular portraits of Washington, the so-called Vaughan, Athenaeum, and Lansdowne portraits. These works are discussed in terms of patronage, technique, chronology, and interpretation.The most comprehensive book on the artist's work to date, Gilbert Stuart is essential for anyone who admires American art and history.

Author Biography

Ellen G. Miles is Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Sponsors' Statements	p. vi
Directors' Foreword	p. viii
Lenders to the Exhibition	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. x
Making Faces: Gilbert Stuart and His Portraits	p. 3
Stuart in Newport and Scotland (1755-75)	p. 11
Catalogue numbers 1-4	p. 15
Stuart in London (1775-87)	p. 25
Catalogue numbers 5-9	p. 31
The Boydell Pictures, 1783-86	p. 48
Catalogue numbers 10-14
Catalogue numbers 15-18	p. 63
Stuart in Dublin (1787-93)	p. 75
Catalogue numbers 19-25	p. 79
Stuart in New York (1793-94)	p. 101
Catalogue numbers 26-35	p. 105
Stuart in Philadelphia (1794-1803)	p. 129
The Portraits of George Washington	p. 133
Catalogue numbers 35-49
Catalogue numbers 50-64	p. 191
Stuart in Washington (1803-5)	p. 239
Catalogue numbers 65-79	p. 243
Stuart in Boston (1805-28)	p. 287
Catalogue numbers 80-92	p. 293
Selected Bibliography and Frequently Cited Sources	p. 331
Index	p. 333
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