This portrait, which many viewers find unattractive, depicts John Marshall late in life when the Chief Justice was nearly eighty years old. Apparently Marshall and his family found it an acceptable likeness because this copy was presented to his son, Dr. Jaquelin A. Marshall, in whose Fauquier county home it hung for the next quarter century.

Hubard, who was born in England and came to America in 1824, was already a well-known regional portrait artist by the mid-1830s. He painted numerous other Americans including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. His portrait of Marshall was probably painted from life. Seven versions of this portrait exist, including one at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.