Joseph Badger: A Boston Portraitist Bridging Craftsmanship and Enlightenment Joseph Badger (1707 – 1765) stands as a testament to the burgeoning artistic landscape of colonial Boston during the eighteenth century—a figure whose career spanned both practical tradesmanship and elevated portraiture, reflecting the intellectual currents of his time. Born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to Stephen Badger, a tailor, and Mercy Kettell, he embarked on an early life marked by apprenticeship as a house painter and glazier, skills that would inform his artistic practice for decades to come. This groundi…