Stuart's portrait practice in the new capital city of Washington was an extension of his experience in Philadelphia. His sitters were similar—most were involved with the federal government, including President Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State James Madison, and his wife, Dolley, and a number of European diplomats. Others were on the periphery of these prominent circles. Over the course of a year and a half in Washington, Stuart painted about forty portraits that are remarkable for the brilliance of their conception despite their obviously quick completion, with less elaborate brushwork than his Philadelphia pictures. His work, in the words of a contemporary, was "all the rage" and sitters flocked to him, especially the ladies, who implored him, "Dear Mr. Stuart, I am afraid you will be very much tired, you really must rest when my picture is done."

Stuart planned to exhibit portraits of prominent people in his studio, a two-room structure designed and built for him by Benjamin Latrobe near Pennsylvania Avenue and C Street NW, where he would sell replicas and engravings of his portraits of well-known sitters. For this purpose, he took with him from Philadelphia at least one replica of the Athenaeum portrait of George Washington. And as in Philadelphia, his studio became a popular destination for admirers of his work.

Stuart painted industriously through June 1804, but by summer his output had fallen off, apparently because of illness with malaria that debilitated him for the remainder of his time in Washington. He left the city in July 1805 for Bordentown, New Jersey, where his wife and children had previously settled on a farm. Dolley Madison reported to her sister that Stuart "has now nearly finished all & says he means to go immediately to Boston. . . . He is a man of genius, and therefore does every thing differently from other people—He travels to the Southward on his way Northward," meaning that Boston was always his ultimate destination.


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