Rachel Murray Carlyle (d. 1755)

Rachel Murray Carlyle was the mother of the Alexandria merchant, John Carlyle. She lived in Carlisle, England. John Carlyle owned a copy of her portrait, along with her husband, William Carlyle’s portrait, and her son George’s portrait. Dr. George Carlyle sent John Carlyle the three portraits, as recorded in their correspondence. It is unclear when the portrait was painted or if George had this portrait copied for his brother from an earlier portrait.

“Your Reasons for Not Sending the Pictures I Desired, I am Satisfyed With, but Wish you had Sent them as it has Turned out, Now I think it prudent to Wait to See Whether We May hope for Peace before they are Sent,” John Carlyle to George Carlyle, 10 August 1757

“3 family pictures” worth £15 appear in John Carlyle’s probate inventory, 1780,

The subject wears a pink wrap dress with a green drape around her. She is turned three-quarters to her left. She appears inside a painted oval frame.

See: J.F. Carlyle, ed., “The Personal and Family Correspondence of Col. John Carlyle” (2011); Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database.