Isaac Foster, Jr. 1755

Joseph Badger painted this portrait of Isaac Foster, Jr., in the mid-18th century, likely in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Badger was among the first generation of painters working in the British colonies of North America, and his practice reminds us that art making is work, a trade or a craft as much as high culture. This formal portrait signifies young Foster's status and position within colonial society. His clothing would have been expensive and custom made, and the very act of sitting for a portrait was a signifier of wealth. The family who commissioned this image would have been part of the growing merchant class. Note young Isaac’s hand gesture; the pose is borrowed from aristocratic portraiture in Europe. We can ask: what were the politics of displaying wealth in a society still partly defined by puritan values? By looking at inventories, letters, and other documents, historians can piece together a more complete picture of the world in which this portrait was made. The meaning of art emerges from its context.