Joseph Badger (c. 1707–1765) was a portrait artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 18th century.
He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to tailor Stephen Badger and Mercy Kettell.
He "began his career as a house-painter and glazier, and ... throughout his life continued this work, besides painting signs, hatchments and other heraldic devices, in order to eke out a livelihood when orders for portraits slackened.
[1] He died in Boston on May 11, 1765, when "on Saturday last one Mr. Badger, of this Town, Painter, was taken with an Apoplectic Fit as he was walking in his Garden, and expired in a few Minutes after.
While respected in his own time, subsequent scholars and connoisseurs largely overlooked Badger's significance until Lawrence Park wrote a book about him in 1918.