A portrait of Mary Willis Burwell of Fairfield Plantation in Gloucester has been returned to the county, and donated to the Fairfield Foundation by its owner.
Christie Reed Smith, Burwell’s sixth great-granddaughter, made the donation along with her brothers.
According to Sara E. Lewis, development officer at the Fairfield Foundation, the portrait of Mary Burwell was probably painted between her marriage to Lewis Burwell in 1736 and her death at age 28 in 1746, shortly after the birth of her fourth child.
An unidentified English artist is believed to have painted the portrait, Lewis said. Another portrait was painted of Lewis Burwell.
After Lewis Burwell’s death in 1756, the young children went to live with their Page family relatives at neighboring Rosewell Plantation. After that, said Lewis, for reasons unknown, perhaps because the Burwell manor was unoccupied or that Lewis and his brother Carter Burwell were close, the Burwell portraits made their way to the family of his brother at...