Monday Morning Museum: John Smibert

Self-Portrait, circa 1728-1739 by John Smibert

John Smibert – Monday 2 April 1688 Edinburgh, Scotland to Saturday 2 March 1751 Boston, Massachusetts

Scottish-born American Colonial Era Portrait Painter

Mrs. Francis Brinley and Her Son Francis, 1729

Born Deborah Lyde, Mrs. Francis Brinley (1698–1761) was the daughter of Edward and Catherine Lyde and the granddaughter of Judge Nathaniel Byfield... When she married Francis Brinley in 1718, she was a woman of wealth and social prominence. An entry in Smibert's notebook dated May 1729 identifies the infant as the Brinley's son Francis (1729–1816). Mrs. Brinley holds a sprig of orange blossoms, a gesture which may have been taken from an eighteenth-century print by Sir Peter Lely. The white orange blossom symbolizes both marriage and purity, while the fruit, a sign of fertility, emphasizes Mrs. Brinley's role as a mother. Orange trees, although fashionable in Europe, were expensive rarities in the colonies. The presence of one here reinforces the sitter's wealth. – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Adolphe Braun
Next Monday’s Artist – Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent