Tudor St George Tucker

Who was Tudor St George Tucker?

Tudor St George Tucker was born in Finchley in Middlesex 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 Melbourne National Gallery School 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 was associated with Fox in the conduct of the Melbourne Art School, 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. He died in London in 1906. 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.