Gilbert Stuart

Download2696 × 1552 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Sarah Goodridge (American, 1788–1853)
Medium: Watercolor on ivory
Size: sight 1 7/8 x 1 5/8 in. (4.8 x 4.1 cm) oval
Museum: Smithsonian Institution
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Sarah Goodridge painted this miniature at the request of Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), who believed no one else could capture the essence of his personality. He declared it the "only true likeness" of him, and valued this work so much that he presented it to his mother, adorned with a bracelet woven from his own, and his wife's, hair.

According to family letters, Stuart presented this miniature to his mother on July 21, 1827. Of the three miniatures Goodridge painted of Stuart, this was the sitter's favorite. The other two are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Conservation of this miniature was made possible through a generous grant provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.