Historical and
Commemorative Medals
Collection of Benjamin Weiss
GILBERT STUART WRIGHT, Charles Cushing: USA , 1848, Bronze, 64 mm Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828), U.S. painter, was one
of the great portraitists of his era and the creator of the most popular
image of George Washington. He was born and raised in Rhode Island and later
went to Edinburgh and then to London, where he worked in the studio of
Benjamin West for several years. However, his mature style owed more to
Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds than to West. He returned to the
U.S. in 1793 and settled in Philadelphia, at that time the political and
cultural capital of the nation. He quickly established himself as the
nation's leading portrait painter, a position he held until his death. Of
his nearly 1000 portraits, undoubtedly the most famous is the unfinished
head of George Washington at the Boston Athenaeum. Other fine portraits are
those of Mrs. Richard Yates and "The Skater", both at the National
Gallery in Washington. LINK to Gilbert Stuart's Portrait of George Washington (The Lansdowne Portrait) (from National Portrait Gallery) LINK to Gilbert Stuart's The Skater (from National Gallery of Art) |
|