As early as 1735, when William Byrd II (1674-1774) walked through his mansion house, Westover, on the banks of the James River in Virginia, he was surrounded by at least thirty portraits of friends, family, and distant relations—a collection that was surely one of the largest in Britain’s American colonies, and one that reveals the transatlantic story of painting in the early South.

While many of the works collected by Byrd were acquired in England, often from London's leading artists, others were painted in America by artists who must have learned from and been influenced by this remarkable collection. Thus the story of painting in the early South is often intertwined with Europe. Paintings came from there, artists came from or studied there, and others were influenced by those who did.

MESDA has led the way in researching and collecting work by Southern artisans, allowing us to better understand the rich cultural complexity of artistic production in the South. While it is true that with only a handful of significant urban centers, fewer painters settled and remained in the South, the painting collection at MESDA ably demonstrates the diversity of training and styles with works by European-trained artists living in cities as well as artists in both urban and rural settings.

Adapted from “Transatlantic Currents: Paintings at MESDA” in The Magazine Antiques (1/2007) article by Maurie D. McInnis, Associate Professor of Art History, Director of American Studies, the University of Virginia.