Thomas Badger

Thomas Badger (1792–1868) was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. He specialized in portraits.[1][2] He trained with John Ritto Penniman.[3] Portrait subjects included: John Abbot;[4] William Allen, of Bowdoin College;[5] Asa Clapp;[6] Julia Margaretta Dearborn;[7] George B. Doane;[8] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Benjamin Page;[9] Thomas Paul, of Boston's African Meeting House;[10] Jotham Sewall;[11] Benjamin Vaughan;[12] Charles Vaughan;[5] Frances Western Apthorp Vaughan;[5] George Wadsworth Wells;[13] Jonathan Winship.[14] Around 1849 a still life by Badger in the collection of the Boston Museum was considered "a highly finished and excellent picture, something in the style of Van Huysom. There is a truth and reality in the articles represented, seldom seen in this class of pictures."[15]

He married Rebecca Melendy (1795–1852);[16] children included George Washington (died at age 16 in 1853).[17] He was also related to the portrait artist Joseph Badger.[18] He died of "lung fever" in Cambridge in 1868.[19] Works by Badger are in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum; Maine Historical Society; Colby College; the Brick Store Museum and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.[20]