Reverend William Ellery Channing

Gilbert Charles Stuart

American

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.

Born
1755
Died
1828
Reverend William Ellery Channing by Gilbert Charles Stuart

What makes someone charismatic?

William Ellery Channing was a Unitarian minister, author, preacher, and mystic. He is remembered for his influence on the development of American literature—a group of New England writers who flourished in the mid-19th century were associated with the Unitarian movement, including Emerson, Bryant, Longfellow, Lowell, and Holmes. Although Channing was of small physical stature, he was remembered as a preacher of extraordinary power and magnetism.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd

Item ID
1979.7.95
Dimensions
30 1/8 x 25 in. (76.5 x 63.5 cm)
Date
ca. 1815
Country
Artist name
Gilbert Charles Stuart
Artwork location