Charles Codman is a relatively unknown landscape painter active in the area of Portland, Maine. Codman learned his craft as an apprentice to a clockmaker, painting clock faces and small paintings on glass. Later, he worked as a sign painter. His commission to paint an oil tapestry for the Elm Tavern in Portland garnered him local popularity and several painting commissions. John Neal, a prominent author and critic, encouraged Codman’s artistic development. Codman exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum and at the National Academy of Design in New York.

The Moose Hunter, surrounded by trees and mountains, is a composite of specific and imagined forms, some drawn from prints and literary sources. To emphasize the untouched quality of the American wilderness, Codman excludes all signs of encroaching civilization, instead dramatizing the American Indian’s prowess in his native environment.

Skwire Routhier Nicoll, Jessica. Charles Codman: The Landscape of Art and Culture in 19^th Century Maine. Portland, Oregon: Portland Museum of Art, 2002.