Images(2)

Portrait of Henry St. George Tucker (1780-1848)

DatePossibly 1833-1837

Attributed to William James Hubard (1807 or 1809-1862)

OriginAmerica, Virginia

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 38 3/4 x 34in. (98.4 x 86.4cm) and Framed (depth is frame only): 38 7/8 x 34 x 2 1/2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-594

DescriptionA half-length portrait of an older man in a black coat, white shirt, and white neck cloth, his hands not shown. His body is turned slightly to the left, his head and eyes directly toward the viewer, the head positioned relatively low on the canvas.
The 4 3/4-inch wide frame is gilded and splayed.Label TextOf the six children born to St. George Tucker and his first wife, Frances Bland, only Henry and two siblings, Anne Frances and Nathaniel Beverly, survived to adulthood.

In 1799, Henry St. George Tucker received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williamsburg's College of William and Mary, then took a law course under his father, professor of law at the school. In 1802, he began practicing law in Winchester, Virginia, and eventually, he conducted a celebrated law school there. He was active in law and politics in the state and was renowned for his law-teaching methods, eschewing the traditional apprenticeship system and advocating a more formal course of study than was then common. In 1831, he was elected to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, which forced him to relinquish teaching. In 1841, he returned to teaching, accepting a law professorship at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he remained until his retirement.ProvenanceCWF's source, J. Willcox Brown, stated March 28, 1931, that the painting "has always been in my family." No other history or provenance appears to have been provided.