John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 – November 10, 1843) 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".
Early life and education
Trumbull was born in Lebanon in Connecticut Colony in 1756, to Jonathan Trumbull and Faith (née Robinson) Trumbull. His father served as governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784. Both sides of his family were descended from early
Puritans settlers of Connecticut.
He had two older brothers, Joseph Trumbull, the first commissary general of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and Jonathan Trumbull Jr., who became the second Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Trumbull entered the 1771 junior class at Harvard College at age 15 and graduated in 1773. Due to a childhood accident, Trumbull lost the use of one eye, which may have influenced his detailed painting style.
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
Continental Army lines and
Fortification.
[ Sketch of British and American Lines and Fortifications in Boston Area by John Trumbull , 1775.] 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, via France 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.
While in Paris, Trumbull introduced Jefferson to Italian people 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:
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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.
Middle years
Trumbull's portraits also include full lengths of General Washington (1790) and George Clinton (1791), now held in New York City Hall.
New York City Hall also hangs Trumbull's portrait of Mayor
Richard Varick, who commissioned the 1790 portrait of Washington. New York also bought his full-length paintings of Alexander Hamilton (1805, the source of the face on the $10 bill
) and
John Jay. Trumbull was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1791
and elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1792.
He painted portraits of John Adams (1797), Jonathan Trumbull, and Rufus King (1800); Timothy Dwight and Stephen Van Rensselaer (both at Yale), Alexander Hamilton (one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, both taken from Ceracchi's bust), a self-portrait (1833), a full-length of Washington, held at Charleston, South Carolina; a full-length of Washington in uniform, General George Washington at Trenton, (1792, at Yale); and portraits of President and Mrs. Washington (1794), in the National Museum of American History.
Trumbull himself was painted by Gilbert Stuart and many others.
In 1794, Trumbull acted as secretary to John Jay in London during the negotiation of the treaty with Great Britain, which largely settled the boundary with Canada and began cotton export to the country. In 1796, he was appointed by the commissioners sent by the two countries as the fifth member of a commission charged with carrying out the seventh article of the Jay Treaty,
Trumbull later encountered hard times during which he was failing to sell his paintings individually. In 1831, he sold a series of 28 paintings and 60 miniature portraits to Yale University for an annuity of $1,000. After many years of trying to create income from his paintings, he had finally found a way to sustain himself from his art. This is by far the largest single collection of his works. The collection was originally housed in a Neoclassicism art gallery designed by Trumbull on Yale's Old Campus, along with portraits by other artists.[ Trumbull Gallery (1832)]
Later years
]]Trumbull was appointed president of the American Academy of the Fine Arts in New York City, serving from 1816 to 1836. Emphasizing classical traditions, Trumbull did not get along with the students. At the same time, his painting skills declined. In 1825, many of the students withdrew, founding the National Academy of Design.
Unable to accommodate to changing tastes, the American Academy later closed in 1839 after a second fire destroyed its collections.
Trumbull wrote his autobiography, which he published in 1841. He died in New York City at the age of 87 on November 10, 1843.
Legacy and honors
-
Trumbull was originally interred (along with his wife) beneath the Art Gallery at Yale University, which he had designed. In 1867, the collection of his works was moved to the newly built Street Hall. His wife and his remains were reinterred on those grounds.
[ Trumbull Gallery at Yale ] The Trumbull Gallery was later razed.
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1965, the John Trumbull Birthplace in Lebanon, Connecticut, was declared a National Historic Landmark.
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1968, a John Trumbull commemorative postage stamp was printed.
In popular culture
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Actor Buzz Bovshow played John Trumbull in the television miniseries John Adams.
-
"No John Trumbull" is a deleted song from the musical Hamilton.
Paintings
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The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775
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The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775
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Declaration of Independence
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The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776
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The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777
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The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga
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The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown
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General George Washington Resigning His Commission
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Portraits of George Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton
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The Death of Aemilius Paullus at the Battle of Cannae
-
The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar
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Self-portrait
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Portrait of Josiah Bartlett
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Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. with Mrs. Trumbull and Faith Trumbull
Gallery
Historic events
File:The death of general warren at the battle of bunker hill.jpg| The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 (event 1775, painted 1786)
File:The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec December 31 1775.jpeg| The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775 (event 1775, painted 1786)
File:Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull.jpg| The Declaration of Independence (event 1776, painted 1819)
File:The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton December 26 1776.jpeg| The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 (event 1776, painted 1786–1828)
File:The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton January 3 1777.jpeg| The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 (event 1777, –)
File:Surrender of General Burgoyne.jpg| Surrender of General Burgoyne (event 1777, painted 1821)
File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg| Surrender of Lord Cornwallis (event 1781, painted 1820)
File:General George Washington Resigning his Commission.jpg| General George Washington Resigning His Commission (event 1783, painted 1824)
File:The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar.jpg| The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar (1789)
Portraits
File:Self Portrait John Trumbull 1777.jpeg| Self-portrait, 1777
File:George Washington by John Trumbull (1780).jpg| George Washington, 1780
File:Washington at Verplanck's Point by John Trumbull.jpg| Washington at Verplanck's Point, 1790
File:General George Washington at Trenton by John Trumbull.jpeg| General George Washington at Trenton, 1792
File:George Clinton by John Trumbull 1791.jpg| George Clinton, 1791
File:John Trumbull, Lady in White.jpg| Lady in White
File:Self Portrait by John Trumbull circa 1802.jpeg| Self-portrait,
File:Sarah Trumbull with a Spaniel by John Trumbull.jpeg|Mrs Sarah Trumbull with a spaniel 1802
File:Alexander Hamilton A17950.jpg| Alexander Hamilton, 1792
File:Google Arts Project - Alexander Hamilton (1792 portrait) by John Trumbull.jpg| Alexander Hamilton, 1792
File:John Trumbull - John Adams - Google Art Project.jpg| Portrait of John Adams, 1793
File:Hamilton Trumbull - 1805.jpg| Alexander Hamilton, 1805
File:Richard varick 1805 john trumbull.png| Richard Varick, 1805
Miniature portraits/sketches
File:Israel Putnam by Trumbull - Project Gutenberg eText 17049.png| Israel Putnam, 1790
File:Richard butler.jpg| Richard Butler (general), 1790
File:Charles Cotesworth Pinckney by John Trumbull.jpg| Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 1791
File:George Wythe by John Trumbull.jpg| George Wythe, 1791
Further reading
External links
