Painting

Title:

Hepsibah Melendy

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

1999.004.01

Creator:

Badger, Thomas (1792-1868)Artist

Date:

circa 1861

Description:

Portrait of Hepsibah Melendy (1791-1877), by Thomas Badger (1792-1868), c.1861. Oil on canvas on masonite. Sitter is shown at half-length, facing slightly right. Sitter has brown hair, parted in center, and done in ringlets, fair skin with red cheeks, gray-blue eyes. She is wearing a black v-neck dress with a white fichu, a gold and black pin on fichu, a gold and black earring, and a black hair piece. Behind sitter is a red curtain to the left, and a gray-green wall on right. Inscribed on back of stretcher, black ink, "Hepsibah [M]elendy". (Note: previous descriptions note an artist's inscription on the painting which includes T. Badger and Jan. 1861; no such inscription was visible at time of accessioning). Back of frame marked "CURRIER GALLERY". Gilded gesso over molded wood frame; circular disks design in interior.

Material:

Textile
Canvas

Dimensions:

H-27.5 W-22.3 inches

Provenance:

Portraits were housed at the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N.H. -- where there are paintings of T. Badger and Rebecca Melendy -- then delivered to NHHS in March, 1999.
The four Melendy sisters portraits as well as the T. Badger portrait hung in the David (later Bean) House in Amherst, N.H. The house was later owned by Margaret B. Carey, mother of Ellison and C. David Carey III.
Hepsibah Melendy (1791-1877/87) -- Amherst, N.H. Unmarried.
Sarah Melendy (1792-1883) -- Amherst, N.H.
Abigail Melendy (1784-1830) -- Amherst, N.H. Twin brother, Daniel (1784-1814). Unmarried.
Thomas H. Badger (1792-1868) -- Painter. Married to Rebecca Melendy (1795-1852)

Credit Line:

Gift of Ellison M. Carey and C. David Carey III

People:

Melendy, Hepsibah (1791-1877), Badger, Thomas (1792-1868)

Subjects:

Sisters, Women, Portrait paintings, Portraits