Gilbert Stuart in England and Ireland

Stuart arrived in his new venue in time for the annual Saint Luke's Day dinner for the Artists of Dublin on October 18, 1787, and took the opportunity to regale his new colleagues with a highly embellished and entertaining account of his life. He captivated his audience without revealing his reason for being in their company; there were some who even asked who he was. He remained an enigma for the next five years, and none of the local artists could touch his success. He assumed the role of the best painter in town with ease, not only because of his skill, but also because he had virtually no competition. To some extent, the elite continued to hold vigils for the return of their beloved Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1739-1808), a savvy portraitist who had moved to London in 1764. The Scottish portraitist Robert Home (1752-1834) suited some, but within about a decade of his arrival in Dublin in 1779, he had depleted his clientele and left town, perhaps because Stuart took any vestiges of work he had held onto. Home's studio assistant, John Dowling Herbert (1762/63-1837), quickly latched onto Stuart, and although the extent of Herbert's work for Stuart is open to question, there can be no question of his close relationship with him, as his witty chronicle of Stuart's life in Dublin proves. (10)

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Stuart had left the relative comfort of the duke of Northumberland's house for a chance to paint his political ally, Charles Manners (1754-1787), fourth duke of Rutland and lord lieutenant of Ireland. Rutland wanted a full-length portrait of himself and offered the commission to Reynolds, who declined and recommended Stuart in his stead. But quite unexpectedly, Rutland died. His body was shipped to England for burial on November 17, about a month after Stuart had arrived. The death was such a blow for the painter that later when he told the story to his daughter he collapsed time, recounting that he had entered Dublin just as the duke's cortege was leaving. (11)

Stuart may have been at loose ends for awhile, but not for long. Within a month of his arrival, the Dublin Evening Herald, or, General Advertiser announced that:

Mr. Stewart, an English gentleman lately arrived in the metropolis,
excels in his delicacy of colouring and graceful attitudes.... He paints
portraits ... and has a happy method of disposing his figures and at the
same time preserving a strong resemblance. (12)

The writer got Stuart's nationality wrong, probably because he had returned to London in early 1788 for several weeks, causing speculation that he was merely trying out the Irish city: "Stuart's last trip to Ireland so far answered perfectly, as to establish for his portraits in that kingdom, as in this, a preeminent fame for identity." (13) Very soon prominent clients from Ireland's top political circles, all of them connected in some way to Stuart's London patrons, commissioned portraits from him.

The duke of Northumberland may have introduced Stuart to Henry Grattan (1746-1820), of whom Stuart planned a full-length portrait posed in the House of Commons holding the Irish Bill of Rights, but the work was never done. Stuart did finish portraits of Grattan's most vehement opponents in Parliament, John FitzGibbon, lord chancellor of Ireland (Pl. VI); and John Foster, speaker of the Irish House of Commons (Pl. IX). It has been suggested that there may have been a grand public commission for full-length portraits of all three men, notorious enemies but nonetheless suitable for framing on the walls of the Irish Parliament House (now the Bank of Ireland). (14) But it is more likely that each official went to Stuart on his own. Foster also commissioned a portrait of his daughter, Anna Dorothea, with her cousin, Charlotte Anna Dick (Pl. VIII). FitzGibbon's commission coincided precisely with his rise to the position of lord chancellor in 1789, an elevation that reinvigorated his well-known ambition to accumulate the lavish trappings of aristocratic prowess. Stuart meticulously transcribed the array of accouterments associated with FitzGibbon's office: the black figured-silk damask gown with gold bullion lace trim and toggles; the ornate harped crown of the silver-gilt mace, a staff decorated with seated figures of Britannia and Hibernia, flora, putti, and the royal arms; and the lord chancellor's purse, the square satin and velvet bag embroidered and appliqued with the royal arms.