Charles Codman: from limner to landscape painter

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2002 by Jessica Nicoll

Another stratagem for securing patronage is hinted at by a group of paintings Codman created on architectural panels he salvaged from Portland's First Parish Church when it was demolished in 1825. Descriptions of the artist in his painting room "up to his ears in the trumpery he had been collecting for many a year" include these panels, which he hoped "to use ... in some way that may add to their value." (32) He painted views on more than a dozen of the panels, which were bought by those nostalgic for the beloved church An inscription on the reverse of Romantic Landscape (P1. IX), written by a descendant of the original owner, notes: "many church members had pictures painted on these panels. This particular panel was from the pew of Mr. E. N. Norton."

The dramatic change in the scope and quality of Codman's paintings after 1828 raises the question of what he looked to as models. One answer is provided by the catalogue of the First Exhibition and Fair of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association (1838), which noted that of the thirty-six Codman paintings included in the fine arts section, at least six were copied from prints. Among these was a painting identified as Little Wanderer (P1. VII), a copy of a mezzotint by Samuel Cousins after a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Among the other Codman works thought to be based on print sources is Landscape (Pl. X), which is inscribed "P. Woverman," presumably indicating that it is based on a work by Philips (1619-1668) or Pieter Wouwerman (1623-1682). Increasingly Codman mastered the appearance of his academic models as he refined a style that employed strong contrasts of light and shadow, the manipulation of color and detail to create the illusion of receding space, and such stock elements as a dead tree or stump to signify the passage of time and the brevity of life. However, while he created the illusion of academic painting, he never developed the techniques of an academic painter. The hand of the ornamental artist is evident in his method of painting his landscapes with solid strokes of pigment and little or no use of glazes to build depth and three-dimensional form. Techniques that would be considered eccentric in the world of academic painting are found in Codman's work. One observer noted, for example, that Codman had created highlights in a landscape by going "over the foliage with a pin." (33)

An essential element in Codman's quest for patronage was gaining public exposure for his work. His training as an ornamental painter had taught him to paint to order. However, in the second quarter of the nineteenth century there came to be increased opportunities for a broad public to view and judge art, which by necessity was created on speculation. Among the large exhibitions of the work of many artists were those instituted by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1811, the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1826, and the Boston Athenaeum in 1827. Codman first exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum in 1828, where he was represented by one painting, identified in the catalogue as Landscape. In four of the next six years he exhibited a total of twenty-one paintings in the Boston Athenaeum exhibitions, the majority of them landscapes (see P1. XI). (34) Codman's participation gave him exposure alongside other landscape painters, including Thomas Cole, Thomas Doughty (1793-1856), and Alvan Fisher.