Samuel Moody
Artist
Joseph Badger
(1708 - 1765)
Dateca. 1758
MediumOil on board (mounted on aluminum)
Dimensions27 5/8 x 21 3/4 in. (70.2 x 55.2 cm)
Frame Dimension: 33 3/4 × 28 1/2 in. (85.7 × 72.4 cm)
Frame Dimension: 33 3/4 × 28 1/2 in. (85.7 × 72.4 cm)
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineCharles F. Smith Fund
Terms
Object number1967.7
DescriptionSamuel Moody (1730-1803) and his wife Hannah Minot Moody (1736-1826), were born in Falmouth (present day Portland), Maine. (1) Samuel's grandfather Major Samuel Moody (d. 1729), a clergyman and an army commander of the fort at Casco, Maine, was an early settler of the city. (2) Samuel married Hannah in 1758 and the couple settled in Bath, Maine, where they raised eleven children. The Moody's lived in Boston for a short time about 1758, when there portraits were likely painted. Since Badger, unlike other Boston artists, did not advertise his services, he may have been recommended to the Moodys by friends or acquaintances. It was not uncommon for newly married couples to commission portraits to commemorate their marriage.
Composed in a half-length format, the portraits are characteristic of Badger's work. While many colonial painters customarily posed husbands and wives so their likenesses face each other, Badger's portraits do not always follow this convention. Instead, the sitters' connection is implied by the same size canvas and the complementary colors: Samuel wears a coat of dark Blue and Hannah's dress is a lighter powder blue. MAS
Bibliography
Lawrence Park, "An Account of Joseph Badger and a Descriptive List of His Work," "Proceedings", Massachusetts Historical Society 51 ( December 1917): 158-201; Frank W. Bayley, " Five Colonial Artists of New England" ( Boston: privately printed, 1929); Richard Nylander, "Joseph Badger, American Portrait Painter," M.A. thesis, State University of New York College at Oneonta, 1972; Phelps Warren, " badger Family Portraits," "Antiques" 118 (November 1980): 1043-47)
Notes:
1. The sitters are identified by inscriptions, of uncertain origin, on the back of the paintings. The inscription on Samuel's portrait reads: "Major Samuel Moody who was born in Portland, Maine, Aug. 1, 1730, married Hannah Minot Feb 7, 1758. Died in Bath, Maine, Aug. 28, 1803 aged 73 years. Portraits painted in Boston, Massachusetts, where they were residing in 1758. Artist supposed to be Copley."
On Hannah's: “Hannah (Minot) Moody, who was born in Boston, Mass., March 20th 1736, married Maj. Samuel Moody Feb 7 1758. Died in Bath Maine Oct 1826 aged nearly 91 years. Portraits painted in Boston where they were residing in 1758.
Artist supposed to be Copley." While the artist is known not be to Copley, the dates have not been disapproved.
2. Although early records of the painting (Vose Gallery, Boston: NBMAA) refer to sitter as major Samuel Moody, the Moody genealogies list only one Samuel Moody with the title of major, the grandfather of the sitter in the New Britain Portrait. His father, Dr. Samuel Moody (1699-1758), was a surgeon with several military appointments (see Charles C.P. Moody, "Biographical Sketches of the Moody Family: Embracing Notices of Ten Ministers and Several Layman, from 1633 to 1842"
[Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1847], pp. 50-53, 108; William Willis, "The History of Portland, from 1632 to 1664, 2nd ed. [Portland,Maine: Bailey and Noyes, 1865], pp.339-40, 378 n. I; Hebert Moody, comp "Historical Notes concerning the Moody Family" [Turner Falls, Mass.: Herbert A. Moody, 1947], pp.8-10, 23).
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