He received $8,000 per painting, a sum that would have cheered his father.īut he was 62 years old and had only one good eye. The Capitol wasn’t even rebuilt from damage caused in the War of 1812 when John Trumbull got the commission to paint four monumental paintings to hang in the rotunda. Guide to the portraits in ‘The Declaration of Independence’ by John Trumbull. He had no image of Benjamin Harrison, but based his portrait on Harrison’s son, who resembled his father. William Whipple of New Hampshire from memory. He took nine portraits from images painted by others. He painted Edward Rutledge in Charleston, S.C., George Wythe in Williamsburg, Va., and Josiah Bartlett in Exeter, N.H. Trumbull painted Franklin and John Adams in London, Jefferson in Paris and John Hancock and Sam Adams in Boston. Fourteen signers did not appear in the painting because Trumbull had no image of them. In the end, Trumbull painted 47 men, five of whom did not sign the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson and Adams agreed Trumbull should include the Declaration’s signers, along with those who opposed it. Should he include everyone who might have been in the room that day? Should he include the men who opposed the Declaration? What if the member had died, and he couldn’t find an image of him? 42 + 5 – 14 No written record existed of who was there and who wasn’t. The painting didn’t show the signing, which took place a month later. The painting showed the moment on June 28, 1776, when the five-man committee that wrote the document - Jefferson, Roger Sherman, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Benjamin Franklin - presented it to John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress. In 1786, John Trumbull returned to the United States and began a small painting on which he based the larger work. He made up the flag and drum on the wall and put the delegates in fancier chairs than they’d actually used. Jefferson’s sketch, though, allowed him to recreate the look. Trumbull later visited the room and found it modernized. Jefferson gave Trumbull a sketch he’d drawn of the room in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall where the Continental Congress met. He urged Trumbull to paint the presentation of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson liked the idea so much he asked Trumbull to stay with him in Paris, where he served as minister to France. Trumbull had told Thomas Jefferson he intended to paint a series of historical paintings. He spent seven months in prison until his friends got him released. John Andre was hanged as a spy, British outrage led to Trumbull’s arrest. In 1780, John Trumbull went to London, where his mentor, Benjamin West, advised him to paint scenes of the Revolution.
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull. Jonathan Trumbull, thought he’d be better off as a lawyer or minister. John Trumbull believed he was uniquely suited to paint the history of the American Revolution. It’s amazing he got it done - but he did get a few things wrong. It is etched indelibly in the American consciousness. Since then, John Trumbull’s image of the nation’s founding moment has been reproduced millions of times. The small painting, 21” by 31”, became the model for the giant 12’ by 18’ painting that hangs in the Capitol Rotunda. And he went to Philadelphia to capture the room where the Continental Congress met. He went to Paris and London to consult with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Trumbull traveled to Boston, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Virginia to find the Founding Fathers. He carried a small painting, protected by a special case, to which he added each portrait as he found each member of the revolutionary Congress. He wanted to paint their likenesses in a monumental work depicting the nation’s founding moment. Ten years after the American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, John Trumbull traveled the country in a carriage seeking out all the men who signed the document.
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