John Trumbull

John Trumbull was an American painter and military officer best known for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Revolution". Trumbull's Declaration of Independence (1817), one of his four paintings that hang in the United States Capitol rotunda, is used on the reverse of the current United States two-dollar bill.

Career
American Revolutionary War
As a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, Trumbull rendered a particular service at Boston by sketching plans of the British and American lines and works. He witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was appointed second aide-de-camp to General George Washington, and in June 1776, deputy adjutant general to General Horatio Gates. Trumbull resigned from the army in 1777; the cause was reported to be a dispute over the dating of his commission, which would have blocked him from further promotion.

In 1780, a financially struggling Trumbull decided to work as a professional artist and sailed to London, where he was introduced to Benjamin Franklin. Trumbull studied under Benjamin West. At West's suggestion, Trumbull painted small pictures of the American Revolutionary War and miniature portraits. He painted about 250 such portraits in his lifetime. He also painted the portrait of Washington from memory during this time.

Arrested in Britain
On September 23, 1780, British agent Major John André was captured by Continental Army troops in North America; he was hanged as a spy on October 2, 1780. After news reached Great Britain, outrage flared and Trumbull was arrested for treason, since he was known to be an officer in the Continental Army and of similar rank to André.

Trumbull was imprisoned for seven months at Tothill Fields Bridewell in London.

Return to America
Ostracized from British society, Trumbull returned to the United States upon his release, on a voyage that lasted six months. Arriving in late January 1782, he found employment with his brother David as a commissary agent for the army stationed at New Windsor, New York, during the winter of 1782 and 1783.

Postwar years
In 1784, following Britain's recognition of United States' sovereignty and independence, Trumbull returned to London to complete his apprenticeship with West. His first major work, The Deputation from the Senate Presenting to Cincinnatus the Command of the Roman Armies, was accepted and displayed by the Royal Academy of Arts in that year. In this work, Trumbull painted Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus in the likeness of George Washington. The painting's current location is unknown. While working in his studio, Trumbull painted Battle of Bunker Hill and Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec; both works are now housed at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

In July 1786, Trumbull traveled to Paris, where he made portrait sketches of French officers, including Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. With assistance from Thomas Jefferson, who was then serving in Paris as the American minister to France, Trumbull began the early composition of the Declaration of Independence. Over the next five years, Trumbull painted small portraits of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, which he later used to piece together a larger painting. If a signer was deceased, Trumbull copied a previous portrait, as he did with Arthur Middleton, whose head position stands out in the painting. While visiting with each signer or their family, Trumbull was always seeking funding and used the occasion to sell subscriptions to engravings that he produced from his paintings of the American Revolution.

While in Paris, Trumbull introduced Jefferson to Italian painter Maria Cosway, and they became lifelong intimate friends. Trumbull's painting of Jefferson, commissioned by Cosway, became widely known and was later engraved by Asher Brown Durand.

Trumbull's Declaration of Independence painting was purchased by the United States Congress, along with three of his other Revolutionary-era portraits, Surrender of General Burgoyne, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and General George Washington Resigning His Commission. Each of these portraits now hang in United States Capitol rotunda at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Congress reportedly authorized only funds sufficient to purchase these four paintings.

Trumbull completed several other paintings related to the Revolution:

• Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, one version of which is now housed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts);
• Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec
• Capture of the Hessians at Trenton
• George Washington at Trenton, New Jersey, on the night of January 2, 1777. Trumbull considered this portrait "the best certainly of those which I painted".
• Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton
• Washington at Verplanck's Point, which Trumbull presented as a gift in 1790 to Martha Washington
• George Washington, commissioned by the City of New York in 1790
• The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar, 1789, which was once owned by the Boston Athenaeum and is now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2025