Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man with Red Curtain)

Maker Sheldon Peck (American, 1797 - 1868)

Collections

Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca. 1827-1830

Mediumoil on poplar panel

Dimensionsframe: 27 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (68.6 x 59.7 x 3.2 cm.) frame opening: 23 × 19 1/4 in. (58.4 × 48.9 cm.)

DescriptionPortrait of a dark-haired, blue-eyed gentleman wearing a frilled stock, posed before a red drape with yellow fringe.

Credit LineJonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

Status

On view

Label TextThis striking portrait of a fashionably dressed blue-eyed man by Sheldon Peck was rediscovered during the filming of the PBS program Antiques Roadshow. The artist's decision not to align the focus of the sitter's eyes - as if they were looking in two directions at once - heightens the picture's dramatic intensity. Peck was born in Vermont but later moved west; he pursued numerous careers, painting portraits while homesteading in Illinois and perhaps dabbling in real estate speculation in Chicago. A radical abolitionist and active in the Liberty Party, Peck used his home in rural DuPage County outside of Chicago as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Object numberL2015.41.160