Mary Willis Burwell (Mrs. Lewis Burwell, ca. 1718-ca. 1746)

Mary Willis Burwell was the daughter of Francis Willis. Her portrait was almost certainly painted in England along with that of her husband. She married Lewis Burwell in 1736. The portrait descended with her husband’s portrait in the family of her husband’s nephew, Carter Burwell (1716-1756).

Dimensions: 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm.)

The subject is seated outdoors in a landscape. She wears an unusual style of dress with a visible, darker-colored trim running down the center of her bodice and along her neckline and she has cuffed sleeves. She holds a circular garland of flowers in her lap.

See: Alexander Wilbourne Weddell, A Memorial Volume of Virginia Historical Portraiture 1585-1830 (1930), 177-178; FARL