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A half-length portrait group of a woman in a blue dress and four children, the youngest sitting…
Mary Bryan Morel and Her Children
A half-length portrait group of a woman in a blue dress and four children, the youngest sitting…
A half-length portrait group of a woman in a blue dress and four children, the youngest sitting on the woman's lap. A girl in a white dress is at left and two boys, one in yellow and the other in blue, are at right. The boy in blue holds a hat in front of him containing three young birds.
Mary Bryan Morel and Her Children, Henry Benbridge, c. 1774, oil on canvas, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia.

Mary Bryan Morel and Her Children

Artist (American, 1743 - 1812)
Datec. 1774
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 40 × 50 3/4 inches (101.6 × 128.9 cm)
Framed: 44 1/2 × 55 × 2 3/4 inches (113 × 139.7 × 7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Caroline Lamar Woodbridge.
Object number1957.1
On View
On view
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextMary Bryan Morel (1745-1822) was born in 1744 in Savannah, the daughter of Jonathan and Mary Williamson Bryan. In 1767 she became the second wife of John Morel, who died in 1776. They had six children together, four of whom are featured in this family portrait - Bryan (1768-1812), Isaac (1770-1777), Esther (1772-1799), and Anne (b.1774). Originally, this portrait also featured husband and father John Morel positioned on the far right, with two of the children facing him. The portrait was cropped upon Mary's marriage to Colonel Richard Wylly in 1784. The artist Henry Benbridge was a successful portrait painter who lived and worked in Charleston, South Carolina during the colonial period.
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