Captain Isaac Knight

Oil Portrait: Isaac Knight of Portland, Maine. Born Dec 30, 1787, Isaac was a sea captain and the story goes that his portrait was painted in Europe (one family account says Italy). Oil on canvas. (Click here for a portrait of Isaac's wife.) Both paintings survived the great Portland, Maine, fire of 1866, and were passed down through Isaac's granddaughter, Abba Ella (Knight) Jones, to her daughter, Ruth Gertrude (Jones) Greene, then her daughter (my mother), Ruth Kathryn (Greene) Malcolm. Isaac died May 2, 1846.

I'd guess Isaac's age in the portrait to be about 40, meaning that it was painted in the 1830s,

Below are two detail photos of the portrait. Note that Captain Isaac is holding a brass telescope, reflecting his sea-going trade. More subtle is the sunburned nose and cheeks compared to the pale forehead. Clearly, when onboard, Isaac wore a hat!