Paintings

Portraits form a majority of Colonial Williamsburg’s collection of paintings, but many other types of pictures are represented, too: landscapes, depictions of cities and towns, genre scenes, still life compositions, marine views, mourning pictures, flora and fauna, parade banners, theorem paintings, overmantel paintings, and fireboards.

Beyond aesthetics, the Foundation’s paintings act as visual historical documents and inform choices and decisions in many other areas of curatorial responsibility, for they illustrate how earlier people lived. For instance, a painting of a tea party may reveal not only how people consumed the beverage and what utensils they used for that purpose but also what they wore, how they styled their hair, how their residence was constructed and furnished, how employers and servants interacted, and much more.

Paintings created in Virginia are of special interest, while pictures made in or known to have been used in the Williamsburg area in the 18th century are critical to efforts to furnish buildings in the town’s Historic Area. The fine and folk art collections are strongest in American portraiture from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century.