Hello everyone! Do you know what April is? If you guessed Scottish-American Heritage Month that would be super impressive and correct! Here’s a little fun fact for you, I am of Scottish descent and am very proud of that, I have gone to Highland Games throughout New England and was known to blow bubbles with my sister across the game fields. So, because of this I feel compelled to write a little homage to all Scottish-Americans out there!
Keeping up with an art theme today, let’s discuss about one of the most prolific Scottish-American artists born in the New England area, Gilbert Charles Stuart. Born in Rhode Island in the year 1755, Stuart was the son of a snuff mill owner in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. When the mill failed, Stuart began training as a portraitist under Samuel King and later under Cosmo Alexander who took him to the southern colonies and Edinburgh, Scotland.
In 1775, he sailed to London where he worked as a church organist before studying art under court painter Benjamin West who taught him how to render realistic and animated faces. Under West’s guidance, Stuart got his big break when he exhibited a full body work depicting Scotsman William Grant as a skater at the Royal Academy. This work of his was later misattributed to Sir Henry Raeburn. After this undeniable success and his newfound artistic elevation, Stuart began to receive many commissions, however his erratic behavior and exorbitant spending kept creditors on his tail, both in England and later Ireland.
In 1792, Stuart returned to America, mainly to avoid debtors’ prison, where he began painting almost everyone of political prominence. His portraits of George Washington appearing somber and pensive are most notable, these images contributing to Washington’s title of “Father of his country.” However, due to his lifestyle, upon his death in 1828, Stuart was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Boston, Massachusetts. Even if it is a sad ending, how amazing is it that one man could create the most well-known presidential portrait of all time? And he was a Scottish-American man? He has given me great content for me today that’s for sure! So, grab yourself a bridie, down it with an Irn Bru, and party hard knowing that you are in the same group as one of the most prolific American painters of all time!
