The Legacy of Gilbert Charles Stuart

"By the end of his career, Gilbert Stuart had taken the likenesses of over one thousand American political and social figures.^[32] He was praised for the vitality and naturalness of his portraits, and his subjects found his company agreeable:

Speaking generally, no penance is like having one's picture done. You must sit in a constrained and unnatural position, which is a trial to the temper. But I should like to sit to Stuart from the first of January to the last of December, for he lets me do just what I please, and keeps me constantly amused by his conversation.

— John Adams^[33]

Stuart was known for working without the aid of sketches, beginning directly upon the canvas. This was very unusual for the time period.

John H. I. Browere's life mask portrait of Stuart, ca.1825

Stuart's works can be found today at art museums and private collections throughout the United States and Great Britain, including the University Club in New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.<sup>[5]"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Stuart</sup>