Gilbert Stuart, December 3, 1755–July 9, 1828, was an American painter born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. He received early instruction from the Scottish artist Cosmo Alexander, then worked in London and Dublin, where he studied with Benjamin West and established a successful portrait practice.

Stuart returned to the United States in 1793 and became the leading portraitist of the early republic. He painted political leaders, merchants, military figures, and writers, including George Washington, John Adams, John Jay, and Abigail Adams. Major collections of his work are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and many other American and British institutions.

After periods in Philadelphia, Washington, and New York, Stuart settled in Boston. He died there in 1828, leaving a large body of portraits that remains a principal visual record of the United States in its early national period.