Dorothy Pleasants Briggs (Mrs. Gray Briggs, b. 1736)

Dorothy Pleasants Briggs was from a prominent Quaker famiy of Curles Neck. She married Gray Briggs of Wales Plantation.

Dimensions: 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm.)

The subject wears a blue gown trimmed with ruffles, a kerchief over her chest, a large matching bow and a floral brooch on her breast. She also wears a beaded necklace with a pendant and a ribbon choker around her neck. She wears a lace cap tied around her chin. She is shown in a painted oval and turned three-quarters to her right. The back of the canvas is inscribed with the subject’s name, age, date, and artist’s signature.

See: Carolyn J. Weekley, Painters and Paintings in the Early American South (2013), 292; MESDA Database, S-3120; FARL

Special thanks to Richmond Conservation Studio for providing an image.