This portrait of Sarah Riddell was painted in 1753 by itinerant artist Joseph Blackburn when she was 17 or 18. Riddell’s Bay is named after the family, the first of whom in Bermuda was her father William who came to Bermuda early in the 18th century and married a Bermudian Darrell. Sarah later married Samuel Harvey and they had six children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. She herself was only 45 when she died.
The story goes that portrait fell off the wall at the family home and was damaged, so was dispatched to England to be repaired. However the ship was captured during the Napoleonic wars and the portrait was for sale in a French market when it was noticed by a passing prisoner-of-war who happened to be one of Sarah’s brothers and was able to buy it back. Certainly until a few years ago, when a proper repair was done, there was very visible damage across her forehead.