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 going on in this young man’s head?
William Rufus Gray was not a prominent person when Stuart painted his portrait. He was just 24, the eldest son of William Gray of Salem, Massachusetts, a multimillionaire senator and president of the Boston branch of the Bank of the United States. The younger Gray’s expression appears guarded, as if he is conscious of being judged against his father’s accomplishments; his parents undoubtedly held high expectations for their son’s future success.
Gift of Osgood Hooker
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