Detail of Mrs. Francis Brinley
and Her Son Francis |
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Mrs.
Brinley holds a sprig of orange blossoms, a gesture that may have
been taken from an eighteenth-century print after a painting by Sir
Peter Lely. The white orange blossom, attribute of the goddess Pomona,
symbolizes both marriage and purity, while the fruit, a sign of fertility,
emphasizes Mrs. Brinley's role as a mother. Orange trees, although
cultivated by the elite in England, were expensive rarities in the
colonies. The presence of one here is evidence of the sitter's great
wealth and links her to fashionable society in Britain. |
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