Mrs. Francis Brinley and Her Son Francis 1729
John Smibert (Scottish, 1688-1751)
Oil on canvas; 50 x 39 1/4 in. (127.0 x 99.7 cm)

Description:
Born Deborah Lyde, Mrs. Francis Brinley (1698-1761) was the daughter of Edward and Catherine Lyde and the granddaughter of Judge Nathaniel Byfield (see portrait by Smibert, 24.109.87). When she married Francis Brinley in 1718, she was a woman of wealth and social prominence. An entry in Smibert`s notebook dated May 1729 identifies the infant as the Brinley's son Francis (1729-1816). Mrs. Brinley holds a sprig of orange blossoms, a gesture which may have been taken from an eighteenth-century print by Sir Peter Lely. The white orange blossom symbolizes both marriage and purity, while the fruit, a sign of fertility, emphasizes Mrs. Brinley's role as a mother. Orange trees, although fashionable in Europe, were expensive rarities in the colonies. The presence of one here reinforces the sitter`s wealth. Smibert also painted a portrait of Mrs. Brinley's husband (62.79.1).