Isaac Foster, Jr.
1755
Painter, American, 1708 - 1765

Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 81.3 x 66.2 cm (32 x 26 1/16 in.)
framed: 95.3 x 79.4 x 5.9 cm (37 1/2 x 31 1/4 x 2 5/16 in.) -
Accession
1957.11.3
Artwork history & notes
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.
Associated Names
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: 126.
1915
Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 109.
1918
Park 1918, 15.
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.
1968
Shipton, Clifford K. Biographical Sketches of Those who Attended Harvard College in the Classes 1756-1760, with biographical and other Notes (Sibley's Harvard Graduates 14). Boston, 1968: 262-268, repro. between 328 and 329.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 14, repro.
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: 23, 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: 6-7, 9, repro. 7.
Inscriptions
lower right: 1755; on reverse of the original fabric: Isaac;Foster: Son; OF; Isaac: / And; Eleanor; Foster; Was: Born: / August; Ye 18th: 1740
Wikidata ID
Q20178104