Frances Davis
W. H. Baker (attributed)
ca. 1850
The subject of this painting, Frances Davis, was the first child of George Malin Davis and his wife Elizabeth. She died at the age of four. This funeral portrait portrays a peaceful illusion of the girl with her basket of flowers eternally sleeping at the edge of a quiet wood. The girl's tombstone in the Natchez City cemetery is adorned with similar flowers and planted with an heirloom rose bush. The Davis family purchased the Melrose estate from the McMurran family at the end of 1865 after Union forces occupied their downtown home, Choctaw, during the Civil War.
This painting is attributed to William H. Baker by Estill Curtiss Pennington.
Oil on canvas. H 100.3, W 74.9 cm
Natchez National Historical Park, NATC 115