Elizabeth Hill Carter Byrd (Mrs. William Byrd III, 1731-1760)

Elizabeth Hill Carter was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Hill Carter of Shirley Plantation. The portrait descended from her brother, Charles Carter. She married William Byrd III of Westover in 1748. This portrait probably first hung at the Byrd home at either Belvidere (old Falls Plantation) or Westover and was likely commissioned by the subject along with portraits of three or four of her children (William Byrd IV, John Carter Byrd, Thomas Taylor Byrd, and possibly Elizabeth Hill Byrd) before her three older sons were sent to England in 1756. Her fourth son, Francis Otway was born in 1756. William and Elizabeth had a contentious marriage and following her death, her mother, Elizabeth Hill, likely took possession of her portrait.

Dimension: 35 1/2 x 27 3/4 in. (90.17 x 70.49 cm.)

The portrait represents a woman wearing a blue dress with a white underskirt and a large bow. She wears a floppy pink hat. Her right is resting on a stone pediment. She is turned three-quarters to her right.