Inscription
lower right: 1755; on reverse of the original canvas: William;Foster; / Eldest Son of;Isaac And Eleanor;Foster; / Was; Born; May; Ye 27th, 1733; And Died; / December Ye 4th, 1759; Aged; 26; Years And, / Six Months; His Character in The / Advertiser By An Unknown Hand; / Doctor; William; Foster; / Was A young Gentleman Possessed of Every / Virtue That Adorns The Social Life; / Religious, Without Ostentation; / Conscientious Without Affectation; / And Sincere Without Hypocrisy; Was / Universally Beloved By All That Had The / Pleasure of His Acquaintance; / And Whose Death is As Universally Lamented;
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.
Exhibition History
- 1972
- Loan for display with permanent collection, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, 1972-1974.
Bibliography
- 1873
- Perkins, Augustus Thorndike. A Sketch of the Life and a List of some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1873: 125-126.
- 1915
- Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 109.
- 1918
- Park 1918, 16.
- 1938
- Parker, Barbara N., and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938: 253, as by Badger.
- 1942
- Historical Records Survey. "Preliminary Checklist of American Portraits 1620-1860 Found in New Hampshire." Boston, 1942: 9.
- 1965
- Shipton, Clifford K. Biographical Sketches of Those who Attended Harvard College in the Classes 1751-1755, with biographical and other Notes (Sibley's Harvard Graduates 13, 1751-1755). Boston, 1965: 230, repro. opp.
- 1970
- American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 14, repro.
- 1972
- Nylander, Richard C. "Joseph Badger, American Portrait Painter." Master's thesis, State University of New York at Oneonta, 1972: 55.
- 1980
- American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 23, repro.
- 1992
- American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 24, repro.
- 1995
- Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 9-10, repro. 8.
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