Tudor St. George Tucker, "The Mackerel", oil.

Tudor St. George Tucker (1862-1906), "The Mackerel", unsigned, oil on board, 24.5 x 34.5cm, 9.75 x 13.75in.

Provenance: By direct descent from the artist's family.

* Tudor St George Tucker was an Australian painter. He was born in London, England the son of Captain Charlton Nassau Tucker, a retired cavalry officer in the East India Company's service. He came to Melbourne in 1881 in search of a healthier climate. He studied at the National Gallery School from 1883–1887 under George Frederick Folingsby, winning several prizes for drawing, then to Europe in 1887, studying with E Phillips Fox at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux Arts, Paris. He returned to Melbourne in 1892, where he set up a studio in Flinders Street and from 1893 to 1899 he and Fox ran the Melbourne School of Art, where students included Ursula Foster, Ina Gregory, Henrietta Irving, Bertha Merfield, Mary Nanson Ambrose Patterson and Violet Teague, many of whom attended their summer schools at Charterisville. He returned to London in 1899, working in a studio at Chelsea, and had two paintings in the 1900 Royal Academy exhibition, two in 1901 and one in 1902. Tucker died on 21 December 1906 of tuberculosis in London. He suffered much from ill health and his work is comparatively little known. He did some good painting in oils which found more favour with other artists than with the public. He is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and Warrnambool Art Gallery.