SHELDON PECK (1797-1868)

This striking portrait of a young gentleman, possibly hailing from Port Henry, New York on Lake Champlain, is characteristic of the artist Sheldon Peck. With his piercing gaze, prominent brows and stern expression, the sitter exhibits the classic trademarks of Peck. While Peck did not sign his work, this piece exhibits his signature “rabbit paw” trio of brush strokes, which are used as embellishment on the man’s shirt collar. This powerful portrait was likely executed in his first years in New York, after moving from Burlington, Vermont in 1828 with his wife Harriety Corey (1806-1887) and their two children. It relates to a Portrait of a Boy painted in this year, which is discussed and illustrated in Marianne E. Balzs, Sheldon Peck, Whitney Museum of American Art exhibition catalogue (New York, 1975-1976), fig. 6, p. 277.