Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755–1828) was a leading American portraitist best known for the unfinished 1796 Athenaeum portrait of George Washington, the likeness from which appears on the one-dollar bill. He painted more than 1,000 sitters, including the first six U.S. presidents, and produced widely copied portraits such as the Lansdowne Washington.
Born in Rhode Island, Stuart trained briefly in Scotland and then under Benjamin West in England, gaining fame with works like The Skater. He returned to America to secure Washington’s portrait, kept the original Athenaeum to reproduce for patrons, and later worked in Boston. Despite critical success, he struggled with finances; his birthplace is now a museum preserving his legacy.
