In the period before the American Revolution—the time of Gilbert Stuart's youth—Newport, Rhode Island, was a heady place. The Gulf Stream climate that prevailed year-round on the island seaport perfectly suited a local culture of religious and commercial tolerance extraordinary in the British North American colonies. In an exercise that balanced business acumen with savvy ingenuity, the merchants of Newport developed a system of economic leverage: more than thirty distilleries made West Indian molasses into rum to be bartered for slaves in Africa, who were exchanged primarily in the southern colonies for goods and by-products that could, in turn, be deployed for the acquisition of luxury items from England. These merchants enhanced their triangle trade by carrying sugar and indigo, Narragansett pacers, spermaceti candles, and some of the highest quality furniture made anywhere in the world.

      In 1751, the snuff miller Gilbert Stuart Sr. arrived from Perth, Scotland, to become part of Newport's triangle trade. His son was born in the mill house in Kingston, Rhode Island, on December 3, 1755. In 1761, the Stuarts moved up to the retail business with a shop on Banister's Wharf, selling and trading snuff and a variety of dry goods. Young Gilbert Stuart would not emerge from Newport's global emporium with a head for business but instead was a gifted organist with a talent for drawing. He caught the attention of the recently arrived Aberdeen portraitist Cosmo Alexander, who, when he had exhausted the possibilities of painting his compatriots in colonial America, took Stuart with him back to Scotland about 1772. In Edinburgh, Stuart became steeped in the aesthetics of Scottish portraiture. On his return to Newport in the fall of 1773, he painted portraits of traders, many of them Scots, who were attracted to his intimate likenesses.


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