Isaac Foster, Jr.
Joseph Badger·1755
Historical Context
Badger's portrait of Isaac Foster Jr., painted in 1755, documents a young member of the Foster family alongside his parents' portraits. Family portrait sets were an important social institution in colonial New England, recording genealogical connections and marking transitions in family life. Badger's child portraits have a particular charm, capturing the solemnity that colonial culture expected even of its youngest sitters.
Technical Analysis
Badger's oil-on-canvas technique renders the young sitter with the direct, somewhat stiff formality characteristic of his style. The face is painted with genuine observation of youthful features, while the overall treatment maintains the decorous gravity appropriate to a colonial family portrait.
Provenance
Mrs. Philip Peck, Walpole, New Hampshire;[1] Dr. Thomas Bellows Buffum, Walpole, New Hampshire;[2] Annie Buffum Williams [Mrs. Nathan W. Williams], Northampton, Massachusetts, 1943.[3] Purchased before 16 May 1949 by Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch;[4] gift 1957 to NGA. [1] Augustus Thorndike Perkins, _A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of Works of John Singleton Copley_, Boston, 1873, 125-126, repeated by Frank W. Bayley, _The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley_, Boston 1915, 109. [2] Lawrence Park, _Joseph Badger (1708-1765), And a Descriptive List of some of his Works_, Boston, 1918, 16; Historical Records Survey 1942, 9. [3] Letter from Mrs. Williams to the Frick Art Reference Library, 28 November 1943. [4] A treatment report (in NGA curatorial files) made for the Garbisches by conservators Sheldon and Caroline Keck notes that the Kecks received the painting on 16 May 1949.
