National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Dr. William Foster
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

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;

Marks and Labels

null

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 made for the Garbisches by conservators Sheldon and Caroline Keck notes that the Kecks received the painting on 16 May 1949 (NGA).

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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