called Lucy Higginson (ca. 1623-1675) or Lady Frances Culpeper Stephens Berkeley (1634-ca. 1695)

This portrait descended in the family and is identified by family tradition. Lucy Higginson married first, Lewis Burwell (1621-1653) of Fairfield; second, William Bernard (d. 1665); and third, Philip Ludwell (1637/38-ca. 1716). She was the mother of Jane Ludwell Parke and Philip Ludwell II. Another branch of the family identifies the subject as Lady Frances Berkeley, who was Philip Ludwell’s second wife. Lady Berkeley’s first husband was Governor William Berkeley. The dating and sitter identification of this portrait remains highly questionable. According to FARL records, it was damaged by fire and therefore, has overpainting. It could also be an eighteenth-century copy of an original seventeenth-century painting. An early nineteenth-century copy by a descendant shows her in a mauve dress, only bust-length.

The subject is shows wearing a loose fitting dress with jewels on the sleeve and a drape around her arms. She wears a necklace and earring. She appears inside a painted, decorated oval frame.

See: FARL