Portrait of John Marshall

JOHN MARSHALL, 1755 – 1835, by John Wesley Jarvis, ca. 1780 – 1840. Oil on canvas, ca. 1825. Nicholas J. St. George Rare Book Room, The Wolf Law Library, William & Mary Law School.

John Marshall was born in Germantown, Virginia in 1755, and studied law under George Wythe at the College of William & Mary in 1780. Marshall served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1782 to 1789, and again from 1795 to 1796. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1799 until 1800, when he became United States Secretary of State, from 1800 to 1801. John Marshall presided as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, from 1801 until 1835.

John Wesley Jarvis was an American painter, born in England in 1780 or 1781. His family settled in Philadelphia, where he was apprenticed to Edward Savage. Jarvis later worked in New York City with a partner, Joseph Wood. From 1825 to 1827, Jarvis lived in Richmond, Virginia, and during this time painted a portrait from life of the Chief Justice. At the time, Marshall would have been about 70 years old. At Marshall's request, Jarvis made five copies of the original portrait: one for each of Marshall's sons. Experts now disagree on which of the six portraits is the original.

The Wolf Law Library's portrait is the copy given to Marshall's youngest son, Edward Carrington Marshall (1805 – 1882). Edward passed the portrait to his son, Jaquelin Amber Marshall, who passed it to his son, Richard Stribling Marshall, and passed to his son, Richard Coke Marshall. The portrait was purchased from Richard C. Marshall, Jr. by anonymous donors in 1980, and gifted to the William & Mary Law School.