On Desperate Seas - by James T Flexner (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This is Flexner's portrait of Gilbert Stuart, painter of George Washington, and other founding fathers, who once shied away from a self-portrait he had begun to please his bride. Flexner presents us with a portrait constructed as the artist would have constructed it, frank, without flattery, profound, and soul-stirring.

A man once regarded as the probable successor of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Stuart was born in poverty in Rhode Island. He became through his art the intimate of the great of two continents. Yet, he never abandoned his disdain for worldly rank, or his fascination with character. He made huge sums in England but spent even more in dissipation. Prison yawned for him, and he fled his creditors. During his thirty-five American years, he painted with brilliance, creating a unique portrait manner. His rank as an artist was never questioned, but his nerves would not quiet. He drank, fought with his wife, and tortured his children. Stuart died as he lived: famous and bankrupt.

From the Back Cover

This is Flexner's portrait of Gilbert Stuart, painter of George Washington and other founding fathers, who once shied away from a self-portrait he had begun to please his bride. Flexner presents us with a portrait such as the artist himself would have constructed it: frank, without flattery, profound, and soul-stirring. Born in poverty in Rhode Island, Stuart became through his art the intimate of the great of two continents. Yet he never abandoned his disdain for worldly rank, or his fascination with character. He made huge sums in England, but spent even more in dissipation. Prison yawned for him, and he fled his creditors. During the thirty-five American years he painted with brilliance, creating a unique portrait manner. His rank as an artist was never questioned, but his nerves would not quiet. He drank, fought with his wife, and tormented his children. He died as he had lived: famous and bankrupt.

About the Author

James Thomas Flexner is a National Book Award Laureate; recipient of a special Pulitzer Prize Citation; winner of the Society of American Historians' Parkman Prize, the gold medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for Eminence in Biography.James Thomas Flexner has won a Special Pulitzer Prize Citation, a National Book Award, and a Christopher's Award for his four-volume biography, Washignton: An Indispensable Man. A foremost man of letters, Flexner has written with equal distinction in the fields of American history, biography and art.