Thomas Sully

Thomas Sully (1783-1872), American portraitist, born in Lincolnshire, England, and brought by his parents to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Trained as a miniaturist by his brothers, he worked with various American painters, including John Trumbull and Gilbert Charles Stuart. He also studied for a year (1809) in England with the American expatriate painter Benjamin West and the English portraitist Thomas Lawrence. Returning to the United States, he settled in Philadelphia, where he painted about 2,000 portraits. Among his subjects were many major American historical figures, including Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson, all in a rich and colourful romantic style.