St. George Tucker

St. George Tucker (1752–1827), an influential jurist and legal scholar, wears a powdered wig in this miniature watercolor on ivory. Portraits of Tucker are extremely rare, despite the fact that he was one of Williamsburg's best-known citizens. This image was painted by Pierre Henri, an itinerant French-born miniaturist known to have worked in Alexandria and Richmond, as well as in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, New York, and New Orleans. An inscription on the back of the portrait's frame probably dates to the middle of the twentieth century and reads:

St. George Tucker
1752-1828 [sic] graduated
from William and
Mary in 1772
Lieutenant Colonel
at York Town married
Frances Bland in
1778 Mother of John
Randolph—Author
of books on law and
Chancellor of William
and Mary College.