Henry Benbridge

Returning from study in Italy and London, the Philadelphia-born Benbridge used letters of reference from well-known Americans abroad, Benjamin West and Benjamin Franklin, to attract patrons in his newly adopted home of South Carolina. Anne Brindley was six years old when her parents commissioned this portrait. Her direct gaze and pointing hand refer the viewer to something beyond the frame, most likely a pendant portrait of her twin sister, Mary.

The rabbit on Anne’s lap may be a pet or an emblem. Signifying fertility and love, rabbits were popular motifs in colonial American portraits of children.