1939.164
Down East
Artist
Charles Codman (Chas. Codman)
(1800 - 1842)
Title
Down East
Creation Date
1838
Century
19th century
Dimensions
24 1/8 in. x 35 1/4 in. (61.28 cm x 89.54 cm)
Object Type
painting
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Marshall P. Slade
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1939.164
Charles Codman began his career as a sign painter and later gained acclaim as one of the earliest landscape painters of the Maine wilderness. In Down East, two workers prepare an oxen wagon to transport stacks of lumber presumably from the mill in the background. Such natural resources were vital to inaugurating the process of industrialization and urbanization. The men are diminutive in size as compared to the vast landscape around them. The dense, dark forests dwarf the men, hinting at the threatening nature of untamed lands. During the nineteenth century, Americans were fascinated with the rugged wilderness, but also strove to “conquer” and settle these “wild” places.