Gilbert Stuart was born on December 3, 1755. He was born in Saunderstown, Rhode Island where his father, a Scottish immigrant, worked on the first waterpower snuff mill in the colonies. Stuart’s mother was from a large land-owning family in Middletown Rhode Island. Stuart lived in Saunderstown until he was seven. When his father’s business failed his family had to sell their interests at the snuff mill. They moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where they lived in a house Stuart later described as " a hovel on a Bannister’s Wharf."

It is in Newport where Stuart began to exhibit his skill as an artist. In 1771, Stuart began studying art with a Scottish portrait painter named Cosmo Alexander. In 1772, Stuart accompanied Alexander to Scotland. In Scotland Stuart studied at the University of Glasgow. Stuart soon returned to Newport due to the death of the older Cosmo Alexander.

In 1793, Stuart would return to America as an acknowledged master. Stuart first settled in Philadelphia and later settled permanently in Boston. He was known for the talent of combining the likeness of the subject with the ability to include their personality or character in the portrait.

During his lifetime Stuart painted over a thousand portraits including Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe as well as many other socially prominent men and women. Stuart has lived in Philadelphia, New York and Washington before finally settling down in Boston. He died on July 9, 1828 at the age of seventy-two. Stuart is buried with many other influential Americans in the Old South Burial Ground in Boston. Today, Stuart’s portraits are seen in museums and galleries around the world.

The third portrait was the Athenaeum whish was never completely finished. This is a portrait of the head or George Washington. Martha Washington commissioned this portrait. Stuart kept the original version while Martha had to remain content with on of the seventy-five replicas. Stuart would keep his unfinished paintings until his death, using the likeness of Washington as the basis for many subseq

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