Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Portrait 1987-20
Portrait of Catherine Curle Barraud (Mrs. Daniel Barraud, b. ca. 1730)
Portrait 1987-20

Portrait of Catherine Curle Barraud (Mrs. Daniel Barraud, b. ca. 1730)

Date1770
Artist John Durand (active 1760-1782)
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk area
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 29 1/2 x 24 1/2in. (74.9 x 62.2cm)
Credit LineGift of Frances Baker Hale
Object number1987-20,A&C
DescriptionA half-length portrait of a middle-aged woman half-turned towards the viewer's right. Feigned spandrels enclose the composition, those at bottom displaying a simulation of dimension and depth. The sitter's dark hair is mostly covered by a sheer white ruffled cap. She wears a 4-strand choker of pearls and earrings. She wears a blue dress trimmed with ruching above the elbows and at the neckline (or all the way down the front?), with a sheer, white, lace-bordered fichu and undersleeves. Her stomacher is embroidered and laced. Her far (proper left) arm hangs down out of the picture, while her near (proper right) arm is held up in front of her, this hand clasping a bouquet of flowers to her bosom.

The painting was not acquired in its original frame and now (as of 1988) is in a modern reproduction frame.
Label TextCatherine Curle lived at Curle's Point in Elizabeth City County, Virginia. On December 4, 1752, at the plantation known as Little Scotland in Hampton, Virginia, she married Daniel Barraud, who was born in 1725 in Greenwich, England, and who had emigrated to America in his late teens or early twenties. Daniel operated a thriving mercantile business in Norfolk, forming a partnership with James Balfour by 1757, but the Revolutionary War and its corollary disruption of trade destroyed the firm. In 1778, the Barrauds relocated to Smithfield, Virginia, and by 1784, they were heavily in debt. Daniel's death date is not known.

Daniel and Catherine had six children: Sarah Curle (b. 1755), Frances Prevost (b. 1756), Philip (b. 1757), Judith (b. 1760), Catherine (b. 1763), and Eleanor (b. 1765). It was Philip who, ca. 1780, enlarged what is now the Barraud House at the corner of Botetourt and Francis Streets in Williamsburg. Philip served as a physician in the local community until 1799. That year, he moved to Norfolk, where he continued practicing medicine until his death in 1830.

Durand's portrait of Daniel Barraud was recently given to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
InscribedAn inscription on the reverse of the original canvas is currently hidden by a lining canvas applied by conservator Cleo Mullins. See Mullins's conservation report of 4/2/1987, which transcribes the original inscription as: "Cather.e Baraud/aged 40 A. D. 1770/J. Durand painter". Mullins photographed this presumably original inscription (see her conservation report, slide #26 and b&w shot #14), but it is only partially legible in her photography.

In the course of conservation, Mullins removed an earlier lining canvas, on which an unidentified previous conservator had attempted to transcribe the original inscription, writing "Catherine Barauo [sic]/aged 40 A.D. 1770/T. [sic] Durand--Painter". This conservator's transcription is shown in the Mullins report as slide #4 and b&w shot #3. It should not be confused with the original inscription!

See the Mullins conservation report for transcriptions of additional, non-original inscriptions.

ProvenanceThe line of descent is not entirely clear. The following is cited in the Mayo appraisal on the picture done April 7, 1987: Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Baker, Norfolk, Va., OR The Misses Hope and May Baker, Norfolk, Va.; to the Rev. and Mrs. Richard H. Baker, Baltimore, Md., in 1931; to [their daughter? or niece?] Mrs. Walter M. Hale (nee Frances Baker), Baltimore, Md., in 1965.

When the portrait was published in 1963, it was "lent by the Right Reverend Richard Henry Baker, Raleigh, North Carolina, with the cooperation of Miss Hope Baker, Norfolk, Virginia."

See the chart showing the descendants of Philip Barraud (1758-1830) in E. M. Barraud, (London: Research Publishing Co., 1967). This indicates that Philip's daughter, Lelianna (b. 1805), married Richard H. Baker, thus introducing the Baker name into the line. (Her descendants are not given in Barraud).