Existing comment:
The Pursuit of Culture
William Byrd II boasted: "([W]e who have plantations) ... have no bills to pay... I have... every soart of trade amongst my servants." Slavery gave Byrd the wealth and time to collect art (his thirty portraits formed the largest collection in America) and a library (4.000 books). He kept a secret diary in part to measure his success at being a gentleman.
William Byrd II developed refined tastes in England, where he was educated and became a member of London's prestigious Royal Society. He founded Richmond and Petersburg.
Accompanied by a slave, who is exotically dressed and who awaits her commands, Lucy Byrd is presented as a young woman whose husband's wealth would give her whatever she wanted. |