When considered in the context of their subjects’ occupation, portraits of sea captains are poignant reminders of the hazards and hardships posed by the oceangoing trades during the nineteenth century. Perhaps more than any other single community, seafarers relied on painted portraits to function as a surrogate presence in their homes, as voyages frequently lasted years and men did not always survive to return home. In 1845, one observer on Nantucket wrote: “It is well known that the great and almost exclusive business of Nantucket is that of whaling and we were told that about two thousand of the adult male population were always absent from the islands. The whole voyages are from three to four years in duration.”

This unidentified sea captain is shown with several attributes associated with his profession: ship’s rigging, telescope, and seascape with sailing vessels in the distance. He is well dressed in a black vested suit with bright white shirtfront. A double gold chain and watch key arc across his black vest and echo the brass bands on the telescope cradled in his left arm. It is one of several similar portraits of sea captains painted in the flat style practiced by Sturtevant J. Hamblin and advertised by his brother-in-law William Matthew Prior. Little is known about Hamblin, except that he came from a family of established painters and glaziers in Portland, Maine. Unlike his brothers Joseph G., Nathaniel, and Eli (who died in 1839), who were active as real estate developers and house painters, he was a portrait painter from about 1837 to 1856, when he joined the “gent’s furnishing business.” In the federal census of 1860, Hamblin is listed as a 42-year-old male in the furnishing goods business with real estate holdings worth $12,000. His brother Joseph’s profession is given as master builder, and his holdings are valued at $30,000. Prior, the only family member listed as a portrait painter, held property valued at only $2,000.

Not long after Prior’s marriage to Hamblin’s sister Rosamond, the two families lived with or near each other in Portland, Maine, and, by 1841, in Boston, where Prior and Hamblin established themselves as the primary practitioners of a schematic style of portraiture that could be completed quickly and at little cost to the client. Although it is often difficult to distinguish between their works, several characteristics appear consistently in Hamblin’s documented portraits: heavy white highlights underneath brows and on the bridge of the nose, prominent “rabbit” ears, outlined hands that taper to a point at the index finger, a smudge of paint to define the chin, and a trailing line at the corners of the mouth. Background views often show a rosy, sunsetlike hue, and elements such as curtains, clothes, and ropes feature heavy white specular highlights. Children are usually portrayed from the front, while adults are typically shown in three-quarter view.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Sea Captain," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 333.