William Rufus Gray (1783-1831) was not a prominent person when Gilbert Stuart painted his portrait. He was just twenty-four, the eldest son of William Gray of Salem, Massachusetts, a multimillionaire senator and president of the Boston branch of the Bank of the United States. The younger Gray's expression appears guarded, as if he is conscious of being judged against his father's accomplishments, and his parents undoubtedly held high expectations for their son's future success.