Image scanned/or photographed from transparency and color corrected by Pat Cagney.

Portrait of a Child

Attribution Joseph Badger (American, 1708-1765)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1750

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 29 5/16 x 24 1/8 in. (74.5 x 61.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 33 9/16 x 28 1/8 x 1 3/4 in. (85.3 x 71.4 x 4.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Object number74.6.10

Not on view

DescriptionOil on canvas painting of a girl in a white dress with orange shoes holding a coral whistle. She wears a coral necklace.
Label Textleft Elizabeth Flucker, ca. 1785 American Oil on canvas right Attributed to Joseph Badger American, 1708–1765 Portrait of a Child, ca. 1750 Oil on canvas In the full-length, life-size portrait to the left, young Betsy Flucker (b. 1779) holds a goldfinch, a popular pet in this period, and a cluster of cherries, a symbol of girlhood innocence. She wears the latest fashions, including a silver, floral hair ornament popular in France. Her pose echoes the work of earlier Boston painter Joseph Badger, likely the maker of the work to the right. By commissioning such a portrait, the affluent Flucker family from Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced their sophisticated European tastes and their respect for local artistic traditions. Gifts of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch 80.181.18 and 74.6.10 ProvenanceGift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch to Chrysler Museum of Art, 1974.Exhibition History"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. (Exhib. cat. p. 35). "Democratic Designs: American Folk Paintings from the Chrysler Museum," Willoughby-Baylor House, Norfolk, VA, August 16, 2014 - April 5, 2015.Published ReferencesWalter P. Chrysler, Jr., Clifford W. Schaefer, and Dennis R. Anderson. THE GIFT OF AMERICAN NAIVE PAINTINGS FROM THE COLLECTION OF EDGAR WILLIAM AND BERNICE CHRYSLER GARBISCH: 48 MASTERPIECES. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1975: p. 24, plate 4. Dennis R. Anderson. THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICAN ART IN THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1976: p. 35.