Stephen Girard came to the United States, and Philadelphia, around 1776, and became one of the wealthiest men in the nation. He was well-known for his philanthropy, and founded Girard College. Because of his sightless and deformed right eye, probably a birth defect, he would always have his left eye facing the artist on the rare occasions he would agree to sit for a portrait. Because of this reluctance, most paintings of him were done posthumously, as this one was.