Jeremiah Belknap

About this work

A young boy in a red coat holds a peach in one hand and rests the other on a small dog. His clothes look too grown-up for his age. Badger painted this in colonial Boston, where families wanted portraits to show off their status. The peach hints at the boy growing up, while the dog stands for loyalty—common symbols at the time. Badger started as a house painter, so his work has a simple, direct style. To see more colonial American portraits, look up The Cleveland Museum of Art.