(Charleston, South Carolina/Swiss, 1719-1774) Young William Branford (1756-1776), circa 1765, unsigned, oil on canvas, 30-1/2 x 25-3/8 in.; original 18th century British carved and gilt wood frame,. Notes: William Branford was the only son of William Branford and his second wife, Elizabeth Savage. He grew up with a sister, Elizabeth and a half-sister Ann on Hampton Plantation. Both of his sisters married into the Horry family. The description of the painting in Margaret Simmons Middleton’s, [Jeremiah Theus: Colonial Artist of Charles Towne], gives the title [Young William Branford]. She states that he “was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. William Branford. The portrait represents a young boy with a battledore and shuttlecock in his hands and was probably painted just before he was sent to England to be educated. Like the young Parsons boys, to whose memories a mural table was erected in St. Michael's Church, William Branford never returned home, but died in England as the result of a fall out of a window. He was "supposedly a suicide or victim of an accident after a frolic. We do not know which." There is in Charleston, owned by the estate of Mrs Henry Frost Walker, a beautiful miniature, similar to this portrait, which is owned by Lemuel Whitaker Boykin, Boykin, South Carolina.” The frame on this portrait matches the frame on his sister's (Elizabeth Branford) portrait by Theus. (fig.1) Literature: MESDA, File # S-8897, 1978; Margaret Simmons Middleton, [Jeremiah Theus: Colonial Artist of Charles Towne],The National Society of Colonial Dames, publisher, 1991 edition with supplement, p.117, ill. 61.; For a similar American rococo frame in cypress see, Heckscher, Morrison H., and Leslie Greene Bowman. American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. Fig.115, p.172; Provenance: Presumed by descent from William and Elizabeth Savage Branford, Charleston, South Carolina; Elizabeth Branford Horry (daughter) and Elias Horry, III; Margaret Horry Deas (daughter) and Henry Deas; Dr. Lynch Horry Deas (1807-1884) and Mary Ellen Douglas Deas (1812-1872), Camden, SC; John Manning Cantey (1844-1894) and Margaret Horry “Meta” Deas (1843-1905); Ellen Douglas (Ellen Deas Cantey) (1871-1912) and Lemuel Whitaker Boykin, Sr. (1861-1952), Camden, SC; Lemuel Whitaker Boykin, Jr. (1894-1967), Camden, SC; by descent in family

lined and restretched on new stretcher, retouch at points in face, on sleeve, in background and other scattered points, craquelure, deeply yellowed grime layer cleaned retaining varnish with new varnish applied on top (Colin Post [Fine Art Restorations], Asheville, North Carolina); frame with chips and losses and remnants of original gilt surface, very dry with some cracking