The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions

	Gilbert Stuart Stuart in Philadelphia (1794–1803)

Back to online format

PRINT THIS PAGE

		Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828) Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, ca. 1800–1802 Oil on canvas; 29 1/8 x 24 1/8 in. (74 x 61.3 cm) Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass., Gift of the Grandchildren of Joseph Tuckerman 1899.2

Stuart's portrait of the poet Sarah Morton (1759–1846) conveys his fondness for her and his talent for capturing gesture and personality. It is a work of extraordinary spontaneity and passion, conveying the illusion of motion and an aspect of sensuality rarely seen in portraits of this period. Whether the intended action was raising or lowering the sheer fabric cloak, the result is the unveiling of Mrs. Morton's exquisitely beautiful face. Stuart painted two other, more conventionally finished portraits of Mrs. Morton, who wrote poems praising these portraits and others by Stuart.