Joseph Brandt

In 1786, while Gilbert Stuart was in London, the Duke of Northumberland commissioned him to paint this portrait of Joseph Brandt, a Mohawk military leader decorated by the British whose given name was Thayendanegea. As depicted by Stuart, Brandt epitomizes the European ideal of the"noble savage," yet his gaze suggests a certain ambivalence about his situation. Raised in colonial Newport, Rhode Island, but spending much of his life abroad, Gilbert Stuart became known as America's foremost portraitist, depicting George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John and Abigail Adams, among others.

External Link: www.npg.si.edu

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