Charles Stuart

Charles Stuart F.S.A. (1838–1907) was a prolific English still life and landscape painter who exhibited widely throughout the British Isles. He was active from 1854 to 1904. He was listed as two separate persons in the Royal Academy records, which has caused subsequent confusion. This was added to by the fact that he initially mainly painted still lifes. After 1871 this ceased completely and he painted mainly landscapes thereafter. The abrupt change is seen in a number of exhibition records of his work. These, along with the associated Gravesend work address, show clearly that only one artist was involved. Life and family Charles Stuart was born in 1838 to William and Amelia Stuart, both artists. Other Stuart family members were also artists including his brother William who emigrated to Australia in 1859. In 1860, Stuart exhibited a work entitled Fair and Fruitful Italy (and J. M. Bowkett) at the Royal Society of British Artists. The 'J. M. Bowkett' was the artist Jane Maria Bowkett, and two years later, after obtaining a special licence, the couple married at West Ham on 6 February 1862, with their first child, Leila Imogene, born four months later. The couple had six children but only Leila Imogene, Charles Edward Gordon, born 1865, and William Arthur, born 1869, survived infancy.