Museum Spotlight: Jane Stuart
24th Aug 2023
One of the more colorful people in 19th century Newport was Jane Stuart (1812-1888), portraitist and youngest daughter of artist Gilbert Stuart. With limited means in Boston, Jane supported herself by completing her father’s unfinished portraits while studying art under her brother Charles and other instructors. She moved to Newport in 1862 and permanently settled at 86 Mill Street. Financially strapped, she struggled to maintain an air of dignity among the trappings of Newport’s Gilded Age by painting and exhibiting her father’s works to by-passers. All the while, she was brilliant, witty, playful, loved charades and dressing in costume:
Jane Stuart dressed as a gorilla, 1866
Jane Stuart's portraits helped her support herself, as well as her mother and sister, after her father's death. Her portraits of Newport notables are among her best work.
This painting, located in our museum, is a half-length portrait of Sarah Hughes with a cat (ca. 1850):
This is a painting of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (ca. 1857), and based upon in earlier version which was begun by Gilbert Stuart and finished by Jane after his death. This portrait of Perry is currently located at the Birmingham Museum of Art.
This third portrait is of Perry’s son, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, Jr. (ca. 1850) located in the collections of the Newport Historical Society:
