Name/Title
Portrait of Ann Wyche TaylorEntry/Object ID
2008.14.2Description
Oil on canvas painting of an elderly white woman in a half-length portrait. Depicted against a dark backdrop, the figure has brown eyes and stares outward at the viewer. A white bonnet with a black ribbon is tucked securely around her face, hiding any hair. She wears black attire, and no details within the textile are visible. The painting is secured in a wooden frame.Type of Painting
EaselArtwork Details
Medium
Oil on CanvasSubject Person or Organization
Ann Wyche TaylorContext
Commissioned by her son Governor John Taylor (1770–1832), this portrait depicts Ann Wyche Taylor (1749–1834) in her early eighties. Born to a prominent Virginian family, she married Colonel Thomas Taylor (1743–1833) two days before her eighteenth birthday. Following their marriage, the Taylors forced enslaved laborers to build "The Plains," a plantation that sprawled outwards from the present-day intersection of Barnwell and Richland streets.
After her husband joined the Revolutionary War around 1780, Ann weathered a smallpox outbreak while raising their six eldest children and overseeing the many individuals the Taylors enslaved. Ann had at least six more children between 1782 and 1795, giving birth to her youngest son at age forty-five. When Thomas Taylor died in November 1833, the Taylors enslaved over 200 women, men, and children in the Midlands.
In need of conservation since its acquisition in 2008, this portrait, along with its companion piece, will be added to HC’s Adopt-an-Artifact program, an initiative that offers a tangible opportunity to support the objects in Historic Columbia's care. To donate, please go to: https://www.historiccolumbia.org/adopt-an-artifact.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
James DeVeauxAttribution
Attributed toDate made
circa 1830Dimensions
Dimension Description
frameHeight
36-1/4 inWidth
31-3/8 inDimension Description
canvasHeight
29-1/8 inWidth
24-3/8 in
