Painter. He was an American oil-on-canvas portrait painter, whose unfinished 1796 portrait of President George Washington has graced the United States one dollar bill since 1869. In his lifetime, he painted over 1,000 portraits of famous people, from the first five presidents to many other socially prominent men and women of the Colonial Period and heroes of the American Revolution, such as Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and John Adams. Internationally, he painted Louis XVI of France and George III of England. A large number of his portraits hang today in The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, many of which are incomplete as he was notorious for never finishing a commission. Born the son of a miller, his father was loyal to the King during the American Revolution. His art school education consisted of studying under a few well-known painters. Although his formal education is unclear, he was proved to be well-read and literary minded along with being accomplished organist. He traveled more than once to Great Britain, becoming destitute on each trip. Eventually on his last trip to London, he became recognized as an accomplished artist with exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts. While in London, he married Charlotte Coates on May 10, 1786. The couple had a total of twelve children, with five dying before Stuart's death. The next year, he and his bride settled in Ireland for six years before returning to the United States, arriving in New York City in May of 1793. He was escaping his vast debts each time. Toward the end of his life when in need of money, he could turn out a copy of the George Washington painting in a mere couple of hours while the buyer waited. These copied paintings were small and not exactly identical, with Washington's hair style and the delicate lace on his shirt being different. He produced 130 copies with half still available in the 21st century and at a demand, are being sold at auction for as high as $300,000. Despite being a prolific and much sought after artist, his high style living constantly left him in dire financial straits, and he died in testate and insolvent in Boston at the age of 72. After a brief service at Trinity Church, he was interred the following day in the Central Burying Ground. The cost of his coffin and the undertaker's bill was only thirty-six dollars, yet his debts at death amounted to more than seventeen hundred dollars. His estate was valued at $375. After being purchased by the National Portrait Gallery and Boston Athenaeum, Stuart's famous Washington portrait is on display in the 21st century at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. For this reason, the portrait is known as "Athenaeum Portrait." A marker was placed in 1896 for him in the Central Burying Ground near Boston Common but the precise location of the grave in this cemetery is unknown. His wife was buried in Common Burial Ground in Newport, Rhode Island and her marker as a memorial cenotaph to her husband.