He was born in England, became a naturalized American citizen in 1809, and lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including in the Thomas Sully Residence.

His subjects included United States presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson; Revolutionary War hero General Marquis de Lafayette, and Queen Victoria.

[3] After a brief apprenticeship to an insurance broker, who recognized his artistic talent, at about age 12 Sully began painting.

[8] By 1802, he and elder brother Lawrence Sully changed their base to Richmond, Virginia, where they continued to work together.

[14] Sully also befriended the portrait painter Charles Bird King who was also studying under West in London.

[17] Sully's 1824 portraits of John Quincy Adams, who became President within the year, and the general Marquis de Lafayette,[18] brought him widespread recognition.

Sully taught portrait painting to Marcus Aurelius Root, who later became an internationally successful daguerreotypist.

Two of Sully's portraits hang in the chambers of the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies of the University of North Carolina.

The obverse design of the United States Seated Liberty coinage, which began with the Gobrecht dollar in 1836 and lasted until 1891, was based on his work.

[citation needed] His son, Alfred Sully, served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

[29] The World War II Liberty Ship SS Thomas Sully was named in his honor.