Sea Captainc. 184527 1/8 x 22 1/4 " (68.9 x 56.5 cm)
Frame: 31 5/8 x 26 7/8 x 2 1/8 " (80.3 x 68.3 x 5.4 cm)Oil on canvasGift of Robert Bishop1992.10.2015219813Sturtevant J. HamblenPaintingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.United StatesMassachusettsTreasures of Folk Art: Museum of American Folk ArteMuseum - Collection HighlightsPaintings
Portraits were commissioned for a number of reasons, such as a new marriage, growing family, and documentation of achievement. Portraits of sea captains and others in the maritime trades held a particular urgency for both sitter and loved ones. Perhaps more than members of any other profession, men who earned their livelihood at sea relied on painted portraits to function as a surrogate presence in their homes, as voyages frequently lasted years; they became memorials when men did not survive to return to home shores. They are also a reminder that those who followed a seafaring occupation were among the very few members of American society who were privy to exotic and fantastic sights around the globe.
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. It is one of several similar portraits painted by Sturtevant J. Hamblin, descended from a family of house and ornamental painters in Portland, Maine. In 1828, his sister Rosamond married the artist William Matthew Prior (1806–1873) of Bath, Maine. The Hamblins and the Priors moved together to East Boston, where Sturtevant Hamblin and Prior established a painting garret. They developed a closely related and distinctive style of portraiture that ranged from the academic to "flat without shade," depending on the cost of the commission. By 1857, Hamblin had given up painting for the "gent’s furnishing goods" business with his brother Joseph, and he left Boston by 1860. Four years before his death in 1884, Hamblin returned to Boston and took up painting once again, listing his occupation in the 1880 census as a portrait painter.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Sea Captain," exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgWhen 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. Hamblen (also spelled Hamblin) and advertised by his brother-in-law William Matthew Prior. Little is known about Hamblen, 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, Hamblen 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 Hamblen’s sister Rosamond, the two families lived with or near each other in Portland, Maine, and, by 1841, in Boston, where Prior and Hamblen 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 Hamblen’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), 333.18401850 1992 10 2
Portraits were commissioned for a number of reasons, such as a new marriage, growing family, and documentation of achievement. Portraits of sea captains and others in the maritime trades held a particular urgency for both sitter and loved ones. Perhaps more than members of any other profession, men who earned their livelihood at sea relied on painted portraits to function as a surrogate presence in their homes, as voyages frequently lasted years; they became memorials when men did not survive to return to home shores. They are also a reminder that those who followed a seafaring occupation were among the very few members of American society who were privy to exotic and fantastic sights around the globe.
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. It is one of several similar portraits painted by Sturtevant J. Hamblin, descended from a family of house and ornamental painters in Portland, Maine. In 1828, his sister Rosamond married the artist William Matthew Prior (1806–1873) of Bath, Maine. The Hamblins and the Priors moved together to East Boston, where Sturtevant Hamblin and Prior established a painting garret. They developed a closely related and distinctive style of portraiture that ranged from the academic to "flat without shade," depending on the cost of the commission. By 1857, Hamblin had given up painting for the "gent’s furnishing goods" business with his brother Joseph, and he left Boston by 1860. Four years before his death in 1884, Hamblin returned to Boston and took up painting once again, listing his occupation in the 1880 census as a portrait painter.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Sea Captain," exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgWhen 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. Hamblen (also spelled Hamblin) and advertised by his brother-in-law William Matthew Prior. Little is known about Hamblen, 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, Hamblen 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 Hamblen’s sister Rosamond, the two families lived with or near each other in Portland, Maine, and, by 1841, in Boston, where Prior and Hamblen 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 Hamblen’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.