Badger, Joseph

Badger, Joseph, 1708–65, American painter, b. Charlestown, Mass. By trade a glazier and house and sign painter, he turned his hand to portraiture. Generally uninspired, his work appears at its best in his numerous portrayals of young children, such as Jeremiah Belknap (Mus. of Art, Cleveland).

---

Badger, Joseph (1708–65) painter; born in Charlestown, Mass. Beginning work as a glazier and a house and sign painter, he began painting portraits in Boston some time after 1740. Because his portraits were often unsigned, many were previously attributed to John Singleton Copley and Joseph Blackburn. His paintings, characterized by unsophisticated color and naive technique, include Mrs. Cornelius Waldo (1750), Thomas Cushing (c. 1745), and James Bowdoin (c. 1746–47).