VMFA displaying historic portrait of Black woman and Lambeth children

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- You can now view the "Portrait of Leana and the Lambeth Children" in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA)'s American art galleries, as part of a new wing scheduled to open in 2028.

The painting was acquired back in December 2024 and will serve as a "centerpiece of the new American galleries," according to a release from Thursday, April 17, and will be in the James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin Wing II.

The painting features two daughters of William Meridith Lambeth Sr., Frances “Fanny” Bernard Lambeth and Medora “Dora” Lambeth, as well as William Slacum Lambeth. Their father, William Slacum Lambeth Sr., owned several Louisiana plantations and lived on Carondelet Street in New Orleans.

(Photo: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)

"Portrait of Leana and the Lambeth Children" also includes a Black woman, who historian and genealogist Ja’el Gordon has since identified as an enslaved woman named Leana. The VMFA explained that Leana was originally purchased to be a nanny after the children's mother died in childbirth, but researchers are working to learn more about Leana's life and the painter.

“Most important here, however,” said Dr. Leo Mazow, VMFA’s Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art, “is the discovery of Leana’s identity. The power of Leana’s identity reasserts personhood, which is brought into further relief by her naturalistic, empathetic depiction that renders it nearly tangible.” 

William Slacum Lambeth died when he was 5, reportedly around the time of this painting. The VMFA suggests that the "Portrait of Leana and the Lambeth Children" tries to honor the boy's death. The "verdant nature, middle-ground sailboat and ephemeral shadows" can all be considered "transitory vanitas objects in what may well be a memento mori (remembrance of death) family portrait."

“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts strives to acquire significant works that build on the strengths of the museum’s permanent collection,” said the VMFA's director and CEO Alex Nyerges. “This exceptional addition to our American art holdings sheds new light on slavery in the United States during the mid-19th century and reveals the compelling stories of its subjects nearly two centuries later.” 

For more information about the VMFA's American art collection, visit its website.