The Bodies of Lucy Parke Byrd: Picturing Race and Sexuality in Colonial Virginia

Lucy Byrd's sexual activities and marital disputes were meticulously recorded in the 1709-1711 diary of her husband, William Byrd II. Foregrounding Lucy's body as it appears visually in her portrait and textually in William's diary, I use portraiture to interrogate the deployment and construction of race and sexuality in colonial Virginia. I consider the ambiguous iconography of Lucy's portrait to argue that she used the painting to assert her sexuality and claim power as a planter's "good wife." Lucy appears in William's diary as an ungovernable wife and the recipient of William's sexual prowess. Notably, the couple frequently argued over Lucy's body and enslaved bodies. They quarreled over food, medical treatment, Lucy's physical appearance, and the punishment of domestic slaves. Lucy twice used self-inflicted violence to anger her husband, attempting to "strangle " and "[threatening] to kill herself." The preoccupation with bodies in the diary makes Lucy's portrait an important site to investigate gendered and racial power struggles. At first glance, the image suggests sexual availability and fecundity on display for William. However, Lucy's clear yet understated self-possession in William's diary undermined his desire for absolute patriarchal authority, leading me to suspect that she intervened in the visual presentation of her body. In her unusual portrait, Lucy wears a loose dress, stands by an open Indian sewing basket, and is attended by a mixed-race servant. Lucy's gaze confronts the viewer and she actively points out of the canvas, claiming control of the people and objects within and outside the frame.