North Carolina is only one of a few states to have a growing collection of judicial portraits. Portraits of former associate justices and former chief justices hang on the walls of the Supreme Court.

Families normally donate the portrait to the Supreme Court after an unveiling ceremony in the courtroom. Remarks about the justice made at the ceremony are retained in the North Carolina Reports, helping to retain a glimpse of the person behind the opinions. About one portrait is hung each year with the chief justices' portraits hung inside the courtroom, and the associate justices' hung in the hallways leading to the courtroom. The N.C. Supreme Court Historical Society is working to obtain four additional portraits to complete the collection.

Each portrait contains its own history. The portrait of Chief Justice John Louis Taylor, for example, (the only foreign-born chief justice), was reproduced in the mid-1800s from an eighteenth century locket. Also, well-known artist Everett Raymond Kinstler painted two portraits, Chief Justices R. Hunt Parker and John Wallace Winborne.

Supreme Court Portrait PresentationsAdams, William Jackson
Allen, William Reynolds
Avery, Alphonso Calhoun
Bagley, William Henry
Barnhill, Maurice Victor
Battle, William Horn
Bennett, Risden Tyler
Bobbitt, William Haywood
Bond, William Marion
Boyden, Nathaniel
Bragaw, Stephen C.
Branch, Joseph
Britt, David M.
Brock, Walter
Brogden, Willis J.
Brown, George Hubbard
Bynum, William Preston
Caldwell, David Franklin
Clark, Walter
Clarkson, Heriot
Connor, George Whitfield
Connor, Henry Groves
Copeland, J. William
Daniel, Joseph J.
Davis, George
Denny, Emery Byrd
Devin, William A.
Dortch, William T.
Ervin Jr., Sam J.
Exum, James G.
Frye, Henry E.
Fuller, Thomas C.
Fuller, Williamson Whitehead
Furches, David M.
Gaston, William
Henderson, Leonard
Higgins, Carlisle W.
Hoke, William Alexander
Howard, George
Huskins, Frank
Iredell Sr., James
James, Murray Gibson
Kenan, Thomas S.
Lake Sr., I. Beverly
Lake Jr., Isaac Beverly
MacRae, James Cameron
Manning, James S.
Martin, Harry C.
Merrimon, Augustus S.
Meyer, Louis B.
Mitchell Jr., Burley B.
Montgomery, Walter A.
Moore, Alfred
Moore, Daniel K.
Morehead, James T.
Murphey, Archibald DeBow
Newton, Adrian Jefferson
Parker, Robert Hunt
Parker, Francis Iredell
Pearson, Richmond Mumford
Pell, George Pierce
Pless, Will
Rodman Jr., William B.
Rodman Sr., William B.
Roeder, Christie Speir Cameron
Ruffin Jr., Thomas
Ruffin Sr., Thomas
Schenck, Michael
Seawell, Aaron Ashley Flowers
Settle Jr., Thomas
Sharp, Susie
Shepherd, James E.
Smith, William Nathan Harrell
Spruill, Frank Shepherd
Stacy, Walter Parker
Strong, George Vaughan
Taylor, John Louis
Toomer, John DeRossett
Valentine, Itimous T.
Varser, Lycurgus Rayner
Wainwright Jr., George L.
Walker, Platt Dickinson
Warren, Charles F.
Webb, John
Whichard, Willis P.
Wilson, Joseph Harvey
Winborne, John Wallace
Winston, Patrick Henry