like other works of this time period and era. In comparing Polk’s works to Joshua Johnson, they have very similar style in positioning objects and creating composition. The awkwardness of the works is actually somewhat appealing for both artists and probably deliberate. Both artists often have subjects holding objects in a way that while unnatural also brings interests and causes the hands to be shaped in a visually interesting way. The art work of both avoids expressiveness and instead chooses to emphasize capturing some likeness of the subject. References Anna Maria Cumpston. The National Gallery of Art. Charles Peale Polk. Maryland ArtSource. Charles Peale Polk – Biography. National Gallery of Art. External links American paintings & historical prints from the Middendorf collection, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Polk (no. 13) 1767 births 1822 deaths 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists American male painters 19th-century American painters American portrait painters Artists from Baltimore Charles 19th-century American male artists