Tour Focuses On Portraits of Susanna and Michael Francklin

Two portraits linked with the history of Nova Scotia are the focus of a Collector's Eye Art Tour on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 1 p.m. at Uniacke Estate Museum Park in Mount Uniacke.

Visitors will be introduced to portrait painting in colonial North America in the mid-1700s. They will hear the story of the portraits of Susanna and Michael Francklin, -- painted by well-known colonial portrait painter John Singleton Copley in the 1760s -- and discover details about the Francklins and Nova Scotia of the time.

Two portraits of Susanna's parents, the Boutineaus, painted in 1748 by American portrait artist Robert Feke, will also be discussed.

The four portraits form one of the most significant groups of colonial American paintings in a Canadian collection.

Michael and Susanna Francklin were married in Boston, Mass., in 1762 and spent the rest of their lives in Nova Scotia. Michael Francklin was lieutenant-governor of the Halifax colony for several periods in the 1760s and early 1770s. He died in 1782.

The portraits of the Francklins accompanied the newlywed couple to Nova Scotia in 1762 and remained in the province until 1927. Michael's portrait was purchased for the Nova Scotia Museum collection in 1982. The two portraits were reunited at Uniacke House this spring after the acquisition of Susanna's portrait in 2004.

Uniacke Estate Museum Park is part of the Nova Scotia Museum family of provincial museums. The paintings are on permanent exhibit daily until the museum closes for the season on Oct. 15. The tour is free with the payment of regular admission.