Born in Rhode Island, Stuart gained an international reputation in London and Ireland for his ability to capture the likeness and character of his sitters. He came to Philadelphia on a personal mission to paint the country's first head of state, and was inundated with orders for replicas, which he ultimately came to refer to as his "hundred dollar bills." This version was commissioned about 1800 by John Dunn, a young attorney and member of the Irish Parliament who came to the United States between 1797 and 1802 to study Native American languages.