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Gilbert Stuart Birthplace & Museum | |
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You already know Gilbert
Stuart's art: his George Washington is on
the US $1 bill.
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Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), the son of a snuff-maker, was America's most famous portrait painter after the Revolutionary era, and did no fewer than three portraits of George Washington from life, perhaps the most famous of which is the so-called Athenaeum Head, model for the portrait of Washington on the dollar bill. (Look for the original of this in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Another Stuart portrait of Washington, based on the Athenaeum Head, is in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.) Coming from Newport or Providence, take US Route 1A south from RI Route 138. As you drive south along US 1A to Saunderstown, look for signs off to the right (west) that point the way to the birthplace of Gilbert Stuart (map). Judging from the house, his father had a comfortable living, and the son was able to go to London to study painting with Benjamin West. Period furnishings, waterwheel-powered snuff mill, and copies of Stuart's portraits adorn the house. Gilbert Stuart Birthplace and Museum
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George Washington, as seen
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