Capt. Offin Boardman
Artistattributed to
Christian Gullager
(Danish, active in the United States, about 1759–1826)
Date1787
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 98.3 x 87.9 cm (38 11/16 x 34 5/8 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1938.4
DescriptionCaptain Offin Boardman represents slightly more than a half-length view of a standing man turned slightly to the right and looking at the viewer. The sitter's graying brown hair is tied back with a ribbon that rests on his proper right shoulder; a lock of hair covers his proper right ear. Gullager painted the hair with thin brushstrokes of gray and brown paint. Boardman has bushy, dark gray eyebrows and brown eyes. He has a large nose, thick lips, and a double chin.Boardman's body is large. He wears a long brown coat with large buttons that have white, wedge-shaped highlights to suggest that they are made of silver. Gullager painted lighter brown highlights with zig zagging brushstrokes at the elbows and along the proper right arm. White ruffled shirt cuffs, which are painted with gray and white to suggest sheer fabric, are visible at the wrists. Boardman also wears a green waistcoat with cloth-covered buttons, a white stock, and a white shirt ruffle that is revealed by the four open buttons at the top of the waistcoat. The top of his black breeches are included at the bottom of the composition.
Boardman holds a spyglass that is organized along a diagonal from just below the center of the painting to the lower right corner. His proper right hand holds the brass eyepiece, and his left hand grips the red shaft of the spyglass. Gullager rendered the highlights on the length of the eyepiece with opaque white paint and those on the brass ring above the red shaft with tiny brushstrokes of white and red paint. Boardman's hands are crudely modeled and awkwardly placed.
The gray background is darkest at the left side and in the upper right portion of the canvas, with a lighter gray below Boardman's proper right elbow. Gullager painted the background at right with a lighter cool gray and a tan paint.
ProvenanceThe sitter Captain Offin Boardman (1747/8–1811); by bequest to his daughter Susan Greenleaf Boardman Odiorne (1788–1862). By descent in the family to George Carr Odiorne (1878–1965), Hoosick Falls, N.Y.; to Clyde H. Tomlinson, Hoosick Falls, N.Y.
On View
Not on view
