Dr. Silvester Gardiner (1708-1786)

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John Singleton Copley (American, 1738-1815). Mrs. Sylvester (Abigail Pickman) Gardiner, ca. 1772. Oil on canvas, 50 3/8 x 40 in. (128 x 101.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 65.60. Image courtesy of Brooklyn Musem, www.brooklynmuseum.org

Like many of Copley’s subjects, Dr. Silvester Gardiner was a distinguished member of Boston’s professional class. He was a landowner and founded Gardiner, Maine. He also was a physician, and one of the first Americans to promote the inoculation against smallpox. A practice of introducing uninfected skin to smallpox pustules led to the future development of the modern smallpox vaccine.