DISCOVERY

William James Hubard (1807-1862)

Portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall, circa 1832 (click for a complete view of the portrait; the image above is a detail)

Note: The subject was traditionally identified in the Marshall Family Collection.  Fred R. Kline in 2001 first identified Hubard as the artist, developed the provenance, and found this portrait to be the original Hubard oil study made from life.

Oil on cardboard sheet (approx. 1/16 in. thick) laid down on cradled wood panel

Size: 20 7/8 x 14 ¾ in. / 52.5 x 37.5 cm. / 525 x 375 mm.

No signature or inscriptions

Condition Note: Some previous conservation and recent light cleaning and moderate conservation . The head was very carefully and lightly cleaned and it is in excellent condition. The laid-down sheet is intact and stable, with old blistering; minor losses around the edges and elsewhere have been corrected. (Report on request)

Provenance:

Estate of Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835)

to son John Marshall (1798-1833): farmer, Fauquier County, VA

to grandson John Marshall (b.1830-?): Marshall, VA;
developer Manassas Gap Railroad

to Norman Fitzhugh Marshall (1858-1953): Episcopalian minister in Virginia & New Mexico Territory (Carlsbad, 1904-14) & lastly at Harper's Ferry, VA

to John Marshall (1888-1949): American Chemist, Dupont Corporation; Dupont's John Marshall Laboratory named after him; first graduating class of University of New Mexico

to John Marshall Jr. (1917-1997): American Physicist; worked with Enrico Fermi to build first nuclear reactors; developed techniques in controlled nuclear fusion at Los Alamos National Laboratory 1957-97

to John Marshall III (b.1949) : American Physicist & Engineer; developing applications in Vacuum Plasma Science

Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe

Private Collection

Exhibition:

Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe. "Portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall: A New Discovery".  October 2001-October 2002 [Exhibition only]

Publication:

"Portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall by William James Hubard: A New Discovery" : www.klinegallery.com from 2001

Historical Note on Related Paintings :

According to Andrew Oliver (The Portraits of John Marshall, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1977), records show that Hubard painted nine portraits of Marshall, seven of which had been located by 1977. All replicate the recently discovered oil on paper Portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall (Marshall Family Collection), the presumed original study herein described. The MFC oil study depicts the same portrait likeness and the same general composition of those known—five of which are full-length seated figures, and three of bust length. The MFC oil study depicts at right, beyond the curtain, a landscape containing a Neoclassical building, possibly the Supreme Court.  All are oil on canvas and all but one are approximately the same size as the MFC oil study.

As of 1977, the extant Hubard portraits of John Marshall are in the collections of: National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; John Marshall House, Richmond, VA (2); University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Virginia Historical Society, Richmond; and (presumably) Private Collections (2).

Opinion

Judging from the paper support, the fine sharp realistic quality of the portrait bust,

and the Marshall Family Collection provenance, this oil on paper portrait is in all

probability the original and only William James Hubard study made from life of

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall during his last years on the

bench.  Seven oil on canvas replica portraits of Marshall painted by Hubard, all

probably derived from this Marshall Family oil study, have been located. The present

oil study is the eighth now located.  It is considered the truest likeness of Marshall

by Hubard and of singular historic importance.

FRK

Sold to a distinguished private collection