Stuart, Gilbert (Charles)

(born Dec. 3, 1755, Saunderstown [North Kingstown], Rhode Island colony—died July 9, 1828, Boston, Mass.) U.S. painter. He went to London in 1775 and worked six years with Benjamin West. He opened his own London studio in 1782 and enjoyed great success but fled to Dublin in 1787 to escape his creditors. After six years there, he returned to the U.S. He developed a distinctively American portrait style and quickly established himself as the nation's leading portraitist. Critics have praised his painterly brushwork, luminous colour, and psychological penetration. Of his nearly 1,000 portraits, the most famous is an unfinished head of George Washington (1796).

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