American
Joseph Peabody Gardner, Jr., about 1880-1886
Tintype , 2.5 x 1.9 cm (1 x 3/4 in.)
This is an unframed rectangular tintype photographic portrait of Joseph Peabody Gardner, Jr., the nephew and adopted son of Isabella and Jack Gardner. The photograph is in sepia colors. This young, light- skinned man is facing forward. His clear light eyes look straight ahead. His lips are closed. His short wavy hair is parted on our left. He wears a white collared shirt with a dark tie over which appear to be a gray topcoat with a narrow collar.
Little Salon
Commentary
When their nephews were orphaned in 1875, Isabella and Jack Gardner raised the three boys as their own. Sadly, their oldest nephew Joseph Peabody Gardner, Jr. died at the age of 25. She placed his photograph alongside tintypes of herself and Jack, and beneath a portrait of her infant son Jackie who died at 22 months in a case in the Museum's Little Salon.