Gray Briggs (b. 1732)

Gray Briggs was the son of Howell and Lucy Gray Briggs. He lived at Wales Plantation near Petersburg and married Dorothy Pleasants.

Dimensions: 30 1/8 x 25 in. (76.12 x 63.5 cm.)

The portrait represents a man wearing a blue jacket and yellow waistcoat. His suit has large gold or brass buttons. A hat is tucked under his left arm. He is turned three-quarters to his left and is inside a painted oval frame. The back of the portrait is inscribed with the subject’s name and age, date, and artist’s signature.

See: Carolyn J. Weekley, Painters and Paintings in the Early American South (2013), 292; MESDA Database, S-3119; FARL

Special thanks to Richmond Conservation Studios for providing an image.