Detail View: The AMICA Library: Mrs. Francis Brinley and Her Son Francis

AMICA ID: 
MMA_.62.79.2
AMICA Library Year: 
2000
Object Type: 
Paintings
Creator Name: 
Smibert, John
Creator Role: 
Artist
Creator Dates/Places: 
Scottish, 1688-1751
Creator Name-CRT: 
John Smibert
Title: 
Mrs. Francis Brinley and Her Son Francis
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
1729
Creation Start Date: 
1729
Creation End Date: 
1729
Materials and Techniques: 
Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 
50 x 39 1/4 in. (127.0 x 99.7 cm)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 
62.79.2
Credit Line: 
Rogers Fund, 1962
Rights: 
Context: 

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).

Related Image Identifier Link: 
MMA_.ap62.79.2.R.tif