Portrait of Lucy Ann Smith Tucker (Mrs. Nathaniel Beverley Tucker)

Dateca. 1840

MediumWatercolor on ivory

DimensionsOverall: 8.9 x 7.3cm (3 1/2 x 2 7/8in.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2015-183

DescriptionMiniature bust length portrait of a woman set before a violet-blue background. The sitter is wearing a lace dress with a black jacket over top. She wears her straight hair parted down the center and pulled back into a lace cap. The shirt's lace collar is clasped together with a gold broach. She is also depicted wearing gold hoop earrings. The case is a later replacement.
Label TextLucy Ann Smith was born November 11, 1812 to Brig. Gen. Thomas Adams Smith and Cyntia Berry Smith of Knoxville, Kentucky. In 1830 she married Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, of Williamsburg, in Missouri and together they bore 7 children. In 1832 the family moved to Williamsburg and in 1834 Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, more commonly referred to as Judge Beverley Tucker, began teaching law at the College of William and Mary. During their time in Williamsburg the Tucker's lived in the St. George Tucker house. The grandsons of the sitter were the owners of the house at the time it was purchased by Colonial Williamsburg. Lucy Ann Tucker is buried at Bruton Parish Church.
InscribedA typewritten note found inside the frame reads:

"The miniature that Sandy has was Frank's mother's oldest sister Lucy, who married Judge Beverly Tucker of Williamsburg and was the mother of Cynthia who was married a Doctor Washington and afterwards a Coleman. Frank's Aunt Lucy's grave is just outside the front door of old Burton [sic] Church. Frank's father and Uncle Edmund both met their future wives at the Tucker house."
ProvenanceThe miniature is thought to have been given as a gift to the sitter's sister and descended through the family to the previous owner.