Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial architecture and the accompanying styles in other media were quickly in place. Early colonial art on the East Coast initially relied on artists from Europe, with John White the earliest example. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artists primarily painted portraits, and some landscapes in a style based mainly on English painting. Furniture-makers imitating English styles and similar craftsmen were also established in the major cities, but in the English colonies, locally made pottery remained resolutely utilitarian until the 19th century, with fancy products imported.
Gilbert Stuart was an American painter born in the Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washington, begun in 1796, which is usually referred to as the Athenaeum Portrait. Stuart retained the original and used it to paint scores of copies that were commissioned by patrons in America and abroad. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for more than a century and on various postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century.
Benjamin West was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as The Death of Nelson, The Death of General Wolfe, the Treaty of Paris, and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is a historic art museum in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded in 1962 and opened in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous Americans. Along with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the museum is housed in the historic Old Patent Office Building.
Not to be confused with the New Orleans architect named after him whose work includes Poplar Grove Plantation (Louisiana)
The Lansdowne portrait is an iconic life-size portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796. It depicts the 64-year-old president of the United States during his final year in office. The portrait was a gift to former British Prime Minister William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, and spent more than 170 years in England.
Vincent Michael Brown is an English artist and portrait painter, composer and musician, and co-founder of Browns' Arts Centre, an art school and studio located at The Clock Tower Association in Warmley, Bristol.
John Wollaston was an English painter who specialised in portraits and was active mostly in British North America. He was one of a handful of painters to introduce English Rococo styles of painting to Britain's North American colonies.
Wallerant Vaillant was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the first artists to use the mezzotint technique, which he probably helped to develop.
Jake Auerbach is a British film maker specialising in documentary subjects. Though his films have ranged across the cultural spectrum he is best known for his portraits of artists both contemporary and historical.
Sarah Curtis (1676–1743), wife of Benjamin Hoadly, was a British portrait painter.
Peter Edwards,, is a British painter. He won the 1994 BP Portrait Award.
Jane Stuart was an American painter, best known for her miniature paintings and portraits, particularly those made of George Washington. She worked on and later copied portraits made by her father, Gilbert Stuart, and created her own portraits. In the early 19th century, she assumed the responsibility of supporting her family after her father's death. She first worked in Boston, but later moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where she was the first woman who painted portraits. In 2011, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
Catherine Brass Yates is an oil-on-canvas painting undertaken in 1793-1794 by the American artist Gilbert Stuart, depicting Catherine Brass Yates, the wife of Richard Yates, a New York merchant.
Emmanuel Levy (1900–1986) was a Manchester painter, teacher and art critic.
The House of Commons, 1833 is a large history painting by the British artist George Hayter. It depicts the first meeting of the House of Commons following the 1832 Great Reform Act and the subsequent general election that produced a landslide majority for the ruling Whig Government. In the Victorian era the painting was often known as The First Reformed Parliament.
The Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury is a work by the English artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the British politician and future Prime Minister Lord Hawkesbury, then in his mid-twenties. It is also known as the Portrait of Lord Liverpool, referring to the title he inherited in 1808 and by which he is better known. It is in the style of Romanticism.
The House of Commons, 1793–94 is a large history painting by the Austrian artist Anton Hickel. It was first exhibited in 1795 in the Haymarket. It depicts the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain around the time of the country's first involvement in the French Revolutionary Wars. It shows the Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger at the despatch box engaged in debate. A large number of other political figures of the era are also depicted including opposition Whig leader Charles James Fox.
Portrait of the Earl of Sandwich is a 1783 painting by the English artist Thomas Gainsborough depicting a full-length view of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. Sandwich had recently left the post of First Lord of the Admiralty which he had held three times since 1748, having overseen British naval operations during the American War of Independence. Sandwich is shown against the backdrop of Greenwich Hospital and holds a plan of James Stuart's design for the infirmary completed in the 1760s during Sandwich's earlier term as First Lord.
The Portrait of Lord Mansfield is a 1783 portrait painting by the Anglo-American artist John Singleton Copley. It depicts the Scottish politician and lawyer William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield who was serving as Lord Chief Justice at the time. He is shown in his robes as a member of the House of Lords where he sat as the Earl of Mansfield.
