Lot 592: JOSEPH BADGER (1708-1765) MID 18TH CENTURY

A Pair of Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Sigourney
oil on canvas
50 x 40 1/4 in.; frame 54 7/8 x 45 in. (2)

Boston: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Probable line of descent:
Andrew Sigourney (1702-1762) and his wife, Mary (Ronchon) Sigourney (1705-1772), Boston, the sitters
Charles Sigourney (1748-1806), son
Charles Sigourney (1778-1854), son
Elizabeth Carter (Sigourney) Knox (1813-1885), daughter
Charles Sigourney Knox (b.1843), son
Mary Elizabeth (Knox) Tibbits (1842-1875), sister
Sarah Bleecker Tibbits (1866-1947), daughter
Thence by descent in the family

PROPERTY FROM DESCENDANTS OF SARAH BLEECKER TIBBITS

Andrew Sigourney (1702-1762) was the grandson of the family émigré, Andre Sejourné (or Sigournais) (d. 1727), a Huguenot who resided in Rochelle, France. Upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the elder Sigourney and his family removed to America, where the family first lived in the Huguenot settlement in New Oxford, Massachusetts before moving to Boston in 1700. His grandson, the sitter, married Mary Ronchon (1705-1772), the daughter of John Ronchon (d. 1761) in 1731 and their portraits were executed in the 1740s or early 1750s by Joseph Badger (1708-1765). The portraits have since passed down directly in the family, which included prominent citizens of Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. Along with the dressing table in lot 556 and the bureau table in lot 593, the portraits were owned in the early 20th century by Sarah Bleecker Tibbits (1866-1947) (see fig. 4, following lot). For another portrait attributed to Badger that descended in this family, but from the Tibbits branch, see Edith Gaines, "Paintings and antiques in the Loudonville, New York, home of Mrs. Ledyard Cogswell, Jr.," Antiques (November 1959), p. 431; the portrait was offered for auction by Independent Appraisers & Auctioneers, Inc., May 14-16, 2004, lot 123.