Portrait of Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer (Mrs. John Cox Greer) and her daughter Elizabeth Mentoria

Date1838-1839

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 30 9/16 x 25 5/8in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, in memory of Virginia R. Ericson, given by her daughter, Loretta J. Roman

Object number2013.100.1,A

DescriptionA three quarter length portrait of a young woman and her small child seated on a black upholstered sofa. The young woman, seated on the right with her body turned at a slight angle, is wearing a white dress with full lower sleeves which were popular in the late 1830s and early 1840s. She also wears a black shawl and mourning jewelry. Her small child, seated on her lap, is also wearing a white dress. The baby is likely only a couple of years old and is wearing a white cap with a yellow ribbon. It is unclear whether the ribbon is tied into a knot or a cockade bow. The simple background shows an interior grey wall with a single red drape hanging over the woman's proper left shoulder.
Label TextSubstantial numbers of people moved from the Chesapeake and nearby districts to the Georgia Piedmont after the Revolution. Francina Cox's Mecklenburg County, Virginia, familiy was part of that migration. In 1826, 16 year-old Francina married her cousin, John Cox Greer, and together they resided at Chalky Level Plantation near Athens. The couple bore 15 children, only three of whom survived childhood.

Fashionably attired, Francina was portrayed by an unidentified artist in 1838 or 1839. She wears a mourning brooch, likely for her father and several of her children. On her lap is daughter, Elizabeth Mentoria, born in 1837. A prolific writer, Francina produced 14 diaries and hundreds of letters. Today they provide remarkable insight into hr hearvy domestic responsibilities, plantation life before and after the Civil War, and community affairs in the bustling town of Athens.
MarkingsTwo later, likely 20th century, plaques added to the bottom of the frame which read, "John Thomas Greer (Stump)" and "Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer." Reseach now suggests that the younger sitter is daughter Elizabeth Mentoria Greer, not John Thomas Greer.
ProvenanceFamily history states that the painting was passed down through the family along with the plantation house, Chalky Level, and it's contents, including 4 other paintings. The house went from the sitter, Francina Elizabeth Cox Greer, to her son Richard Cox Greer, to his son Emmett Keely Greer, who was the last of the family to own Chalky Level. In 1932, the family sold the plantation house and its contents were dispersed. The portrait of the Francina Elizabeth was given to Emmett's son Dan Dupree Greer, who then left it to his daughter Laura Castrillon, who consigned the painting to Brunk Auctions.

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