Attr. Charles Codman. Portrait of a Young Gentleman.

Attr. Charles Codman. Portrait of a Young Gentleman.
Attributed to CHARLES CODMAN (American, c. 1800-1842) Portrait of a Young Gentleman, c. 1824 Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches; within carved and gilded reproduction frame. Although his origins are obscure. Charles Codman is believed to have been from eastern Massachusetts. Both he and William P. Codman (believed to be his brother) apprenticed to the ornamental painter John Ritto Penniman of Boston, and later established a partnership as portrait painters in 1822. Later that year, Charles departed for Portland, Maine, where he established himself as a decorative painter, but still taking on portrait commissions and eventually, producing romanticized landscape views, for which he is most famous. By the cut of his clothing and hairstyle, this portrait of an unidentified, handsome gentleman is dated to the mid-1820s and came from a Portland estate. It compares very closely to other known works by Codman, including a surviving self-portrait from the same period.