Mrs. John Haskins (née Hannah Upham)

Joseph Badger, a self-taught house painter turned artist, was a popular portraitist of middle-class Bostonians during the 1750s. Badger worked in a modest style, characterized by a simple palette of blues and browns and a sparing use of paint. This portrait of Hannah Haskins was most likely commissioned as a pendant pair with that of her husband, John Haskins, at the left. Mrs. Haskins followed the Congregationalist faith while her husband was a devout Episcopalian, and on Sundays they led separate contingents of their children to their respective churches. Though the staid appearance of the portraits may be a result of Badger’s limited training, the style suits the pious couple.