Replacing the Headstone of Charles Codman

In 2008, it is one of the goals of Spirits Alive to raise the funds necessary to create and install a replacement stone for Charles Codman, a great Maine landscape painter who died in 1842. Unfortunately, his original stone lies in rubble under decades of soil and vegetation.

If you would like to donate money towards this cause, please use the Paypal button below or make a check to Spirits Alive, and mail it to Charles Codman Headstone Fund, c/o Spirits Alive, PO Box 18209, Portland, Maine 04112-8209. 100% of your donation will go toward the purchase of a new stone.

A Short Biography: It is assumed that Charles Codman was born in Boston around 1800. He was a self-taught artist who came to Portland in 1822 as a sign painter. John Neal, the art critic, discovered Codman in 1828 and lifted him from tradesman of fireboard, sign, looking glass and military banner painter, to fine artist. Exhibiting in his workspaces as well as his apartment above the Bank of Portland, and headlining the first art exhibit at Mechanics Hall on Congress Street, he became well-known for his talents and was eventually commissioned by the governor of Maine.
His life ended on September 11, 1842 when he succumbed to tuberculosis. He is interred in the Eastern Cemetery, in Portland, Maine.

Incomplete List of Works and Internet Links
The Hunter, oil painting, just under 15 x 9 inches, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, museum purchase, 2007.
Canoeing by the Rapids at Twilight, circa 1830-35, oil on mattress ticking, 18 1/4 x 24 inches, Private Collection, Photo by Melville McLean, © Namdoc, 2002
Diamond Cove (small), 1830-1835, oil on panel, 8 1/2 x 12 1/4 inches, Private Collection, Photo by Melville McLean, © Namdoc, 2002
Still Life of Ducks, post 1825, oil on panel, 13 15/16 x 9 3/4 inches, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, museum purchase, 1976.
Landscape with Indians, circa 1830, oil on mattress ticking, 26 3/4 x 33 5/8 inches, Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Annie H. Trowbridge Ward, 1916.
The Bathing Pool, about 1830, Oil on canvas, 17 x 19 1/8 inches, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Gift of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865, 1947
Down East, 1838, oil on canvas, 24 1/8 in. x 35 1/4 inches, Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Gift of Mrs. Marshall P. Slade, 1939.
Entertainment of the Boston Rifle Rangers by the Portland Rifle Club in Portland Harbor, August 12, 1829, 1830, oil on panel, 24 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches, Brooklyn Museum. Dick S. Ramsay Fund.
Picnic Scene, circa 1830, oil on wood panel, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.
Pirate's Retreat, circa 1830, oil on canvas, 23 1/4 x 31 x 1 1/4 inches, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, museum purchase, 1943.
Diamond Cove from Great Diamond Island in Casco Bay, Portland, Maine, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.
Diamond Temperance Society of Ellsworth Banner, 1841, oil on silk, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.
Landscape with Farm and Mountains, 1832, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1973.
Romantic Landscape, circa 1830, oil on wood panel, 20 x 24 1/2 inches. Portland Museum of Art, Maine, gift of Mrs. E. N. Taylor, 1943.
Landscape with Stream, circa 1830, oil on canvas, 22 x 16 inches,
Still Life of Grapes, circa 1828, oil on canvas, 12 x 9 inches.
Diamond Cove, circa 1836, oil on canvas, 60 x 75 inches or 15 x 20 inches.
Lady with Dove, circa 1830, oil on canvas, 43.2 x 36.8 inches.
Approaching Storm, 1831, oil on panel, private collection. (link to image of postcard at PMA store)
The log cabin (Cattle in lake), 1830, oil on canvas, 23.7 x 36 inches
A Man's Pastimes, 1832, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches.
View of the Original State House, Augusta, 1836, oil, Maine State Museum, Augusta, Maine.
Calais Frontier Guard banner, circa 1839, oil and gold leaf on silk, 127 x 158 inches.
View of Diamond Cove from Great Diamond Island, circa 1829, oil on pine panel, 31 7/16" x 48 5/16 inches, Museum purchase with gifts from Iris Almy, Mrs Alexander Fowler, Margaret Payson, Mrs. Millard S. Peabody, Mr. and Mrs. John Rand, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond B. Small, Mr. and Mrs J. Weston Walch, Roger and Katherine Woodman, and an anonymous donor.
Untitled (Deering Oaks), Circa 1828, oil on panel, 19 13/16" x 24 inches, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, gift of the estate of William P. Beall, 2003.
The Log Hut (Cattle in Lake), 1832, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, museum purchase with support from the Friends of the Collection, 2006.

Biography source: Nicoll, Jessica, "Charles Codman: from Limner to Landscape Painter," Magazine Antiques, November 2002.