Anne Byrd Carter (Mrs. Charles Carter, 1725-1757)

Anne Byrd Carter was the daughter of William Byrd II and Maria Taylor Byrd. She married Charles Carter of Cleve in 1741. It is possible that this portrait of Anne was done at her father’s home at Westover Plantation. The fence and outbuilding, plus the reference to lawn bowling, suggest Westover. Byrd and Dering socialized regularly at Westover and played bowling. However, Anne and Charles Carter also lived near William Dering for a time in Williamsburg. The portrait could have been painted there or at Cleve. The portrait descended with one of her husband. She was also painted by John Hesselius and as a child by an unknown artist.

Dimensions: 50 1/2 x 40 in. (128.3 x 101.6 cm.)

The portrait shows a woman standing outdoors wearing a blue wrap dress. A pink ribbon with jeweled buckle or clasp fastens the dress. She has pearls and small white flowers in her hair. A orange drape is around her body. Her right hand holds a basket filled with grapes. Her left hand holds up the drape. To her left is a column. Beyond her is a view of an enclosed garden with a fence and brick outbuilding. A game of lawn bowling is set up in the grass.

See: Graham Hood, Charles Bridges and William Dering: Two Virginia Painters, 1735-1750 (1975), 109; Carolyn J. Weekley, Painters and Paintings in the Early American South (2013), 193; Colonial Williamsburg eMuseum