Clarissa Munger Badger
| Clarissa Munger Badger | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Clarissa Munger 1806 East Guilford, Connecticut |
| Died | 1889 |
| Resting place | West Cemetery, Madison, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | botanical painting |
| Spouse(s) | Milton Badger |
Clarissa Munger Badger (1806–1889) was a mid 19th century American botanical illustrator best known for three volumes of flower paintings accompanied by poetry. She also painted on textiles.
Clarissa W. Munger was born in East Guilford, Connecticut, in 1806 to George Munger, a portrait painter and engraver, and Parnel Kelsey Munger. Clarissa, her older brother George, and her younger sister Caroline all become artists as well, with Caroline specializing in portraits like her father and Clarissa in botanical art.
In 1828, she married the Rev. Milton Badger, who was a minister in Andover, Massachusetts and later became the associate secretary of the American Home Missionary Society, a job requiring him to spend time in the western United States. They had five children, of whom two survived to adulthood, both becoming doctors. Milton developed Bright's disease, and the couple moved back Madison, Connecticut, where Clarissa was widowed in 1873.
In 1848, Clarissa Munger Badger privately published A Forget-Me-Not: Flowers from Nature with Selected Poetry under the name C. M. Badger. This was a volume of poetry by William Cullen Bryant, Lydia Sigourney, Mary Howitt, and others illustrated with 13 of her flower paintings. This may have provided a model for her 1859 book Wild Flowers Drawn and Colored from Nature (informally known as The Wild Flowers of America), which was illustrated with 22 plates of individual common flowers such as trailing arbutus, purple violet, cardinal flower, and harebell. It also included poems, thought in this case to have been written by Badger herself, together with an introductory poem by Sigourney. The poet Emily Dickinson owned a copy of this book. The plates were widely reproduced at the time, contributing to Badger's reputation as a top-rank botanical artist.
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