Gilbert Charles Stuart
After an impoverished childhood, Gilbert Charles Stuart received artistic instruction after begging the artist Benjamin West for a place in his studio. Stuart brushed off drawing and composition studies, disliking the use of elaborate poses and refusing to labor over details of dress, attributes, or backgrounds. Instead, he built his reputation as someone who, in the words of West, could “nail the face to the canvas,” and became one of the most highly regarded portraitists of his time.
What is your most defining feature?
Before painting a portrait, Stuart would observe his sitter in order to determine which side of his or her face would give the best outline of their profile. He would then choose that side to be closer to the viewer’s eye. As a sought-after portraitist, Stuart developed many such techniques during the course of his career. A prolific artist and enterprising businessman, he executed more than 1,100 portraits during his lifetime.
Bequest of Alletta Morris McBean to The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
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