American painter who was one of the great portrait painters of his era and the creator of a distinctively American portrait style.

Stuart grew up in Newport, Rhode Island, where he learned the rudiments of painting. In 1775 he went to London and entered the studio of the expatriate American artist Benjamin West (West, Benjamin), with whom he worked for about six years. His mature style owes more, however, to the work of Thomas Gainsborough (Gainsborough, Thomas) and Sir Joshua Reynolds (Reynolds, Sir Joshua) than to West. In 1782 Stuart opened his own London studio, and for five years he received portrait commissions from some of England's most distinguished gentlemen. Despite this success, he fled to Dublin in 1787 to escape his creditors. After six years in Ireland he returned to the United States, where he quickly established himself as the nation's leading portrait painter. He lived in New York City for a short time and moved to Philadelphia, where he lived for about 12 years. He finally settled in Boston in 1805.

Although Stuart had no formal pupils, many young artists, including John Vanderlyn (Vanderlyn, John), Thomas Sully (Sully, Thomas), and John Neagle, took advantage of the advice he freely gave. These artists were particularly impressed by Stuart's working method: eschewing preliminary sketches, he painted his sitters faces directly onto the canvas or panel. Less talented artists, including his own daughter Jane, reduced his style to a formula that was reflected in much American portraiture of the succeeding generation.