Elizabeth Landon Carter (Mrs. Robert Carter, 1683/4-1719)

Elizabeth Landon Carter was the second wife of Robert “King” Carter. According to her husband’s 1726 will, there was a portrait of her at Corotoman. He left it to their eldest son, Robert Carter II of Nomini Hall. What happened to this portrait is unknown. Another of her sons, Landon Carter, referenced a copy of her portrait, confirming that at least one existed. It is unknown if he copied one for his own collection at Sabine Hall or not as he was displeased with the copy he had seen. It is unclear if that copy was in his possession or if he referred to another copy from another of his sibling’s collections.

References: “my pictures each Child to have his own picture my son [John] to have my first picture and his mothers also my gold watch and diamond ring my Son Robert to have my other picture & his mothers picture,” Will of Robert “King” Carter, 1726; Edmund Berkeley, Jr., ed., The Diary, Correspondence, and Papers of Robert “King” Carter of Virginia, 1701-1732 (2009)

“So far as I am able to judge I think Mr. Peele has much merit in his profession, but in the article of mixing colors for duration, he would seem to be deficient, by the picture he has drawn of Lord Chatham now at Chantilly. The colors of that piece have greatly faded in the short time since it was drawn. I observe in your letter to Mr. Peele that this is one of your capital objections to the copies that have been already taken of your Mothers picture.” – Richard Henry Lee to Landon Carter, 9 October 1772, in Papers of the Carter and Wellford Family of Sabine Hall 1650-1918, Small Special Collection, University of Virginia.