Cambridge, Массачусетс 02138, United States
John Trumbull studied at Harvard College of Harvard University from 1771 to 1773. On the photo - Harvard University
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence on the reverse of United States two-dollar bill
Cambridge, Массачусетс 02138, United States
John Trumbull studied at Harvard College of Harvard University from 1771 to 1773. On the photo - Harvard University
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence on the reverse of United States two-dollar bill
Joseph Trumbull, one of the artist's brothers
Jonathan Trumbull Jr., one of the artist's brothers
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Cole
(An autobiography composed by the artist)
An autobiography composed by the artist
https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Reminiscences-Letters-John-Trumbull/dp/B004QZA1CC
1841
architect artist painter author
John Trumbull was born on June 6, 1756, in Lebanon, Connecticut, United States to a wealthy family of a lawyer Jonathan Trumbull and Faith Robinson. John had six brothers and sisters.
Trumbull’s father served as a Governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784.
John Trumbull became a student of Harvard College at the age of fifteen and graduated in 1773. While at the institution, he attended the studio of John Singleton Copley which pushed the young man to become an artist.
In 1780, Trumbull had a trip to the United Kingdom where he took private lessons from the painter Benjamin West. Later, John Trumbull returned to his tutor many times during the 1780s.
The first painting John Trumbull produced, ‘The Death of Paulus Aemilius at the Battle of Cannae’, reflected his preoccupation with the aggravating tensions between Britain and the colonies. The same political concerns pushed him to join the army as an adjutant to General Joseph Spencer after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. Trumbull spent some months at the first Connecticut Regiment and became the 2nd aide-de-camp to General Washington where he served for a while. A year later, Trumbull was appointed by General Horatio Gates a deputy adjutant general and received the rank of colonel.
The following year, however, Trumbull resigned from the army, angered by a dispute over the date of his commission from the Continental Congress. It was this time when he started his painting career returning to the historical and Revolutionary War subjects according to the advice of Benjamin West. Among the first canvases on the cause were ‘The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill’ and ‘Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec’. On July 1786, while in Paris, the artist started to work on ‘The Declaration of Independence’ encouraged by Thomas Jefferson. The resulting paintings became Trumbell’s best-known works.
In 1789, the painter came back to the United States. For about five years from then, he concentrated on the small-scale painting, in particular, oil miniatures and sketches for his history paintings.
Then, John Trumbull returned to London as secretary to John Jay. Trumbull had served as one of the commissioners to carry out provisions of the Jay Treaty till 1804. During this time, he worked occasionally as a portraitist.
This year, he came back to the United States, where he earned a lot of money from his portraits which inspired the young artists of the period. Among Trumbull’s models were Timothy Dwight and Stephen Van Rensselaer. Trumbull was included in the board of directors of the New York Academy of the Fine Arts (currently the American Academy of the Fine Arts). However, the economic problems caused by the Embargo Act of 1807 pushed the painter to leave the country and to return to London where he stayed until his comeback to New York City in 1816.
The following year, the artist occupied the post of a president of the American Academy of the Fine Arts which he chaired for nineteen years. This position was followed the same year by an important commission from Congress to decorate the rotunda of the new Capitol in Washington, D.C. The project was completed by 1824 with the reproduction on a larger scale 4 of the artist’s 12 paintings on the Revolutionary War, including ‘Signing of the Declaration of Independence’, ‘Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown’, ‘Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga’ and ‘Resignation of Washington at Annapolis’.
In the lack of other federal commissions, John Trumbull shifted again to portraiture. However, he had some financial difficulties in this field and was obliged to offer the part of his painting collection in 1831 to Yale College in exchange for an annuity. A year later, these canvases became the basis of the Trumbull Gallery founded by a professor at Yale Benjamin Silliman.
After leaving the presidential post of the American Academy, Trumbull wrote his autobiography published two years before the artist’s death in 1843.
John Trumbull was a prolific painter who made a great contribution to the history painting leaving the rich heritage of canvases reflecting the important events of the American Revolutionary War period. The artist received the title of The Painter of the Revolution. Besides, the artist produced about 250 miniature portraits during his lifetime.
Among his famous models were such notable personalities of the time, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, George Clinton and many others.
The birthplace of the artist in Lebanon, Connecticut was named a National Historic Landmark. Three years later, a special postage stamp dedicated to Trumbull was issued.
Trumbull’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ was applied as the decoration for the reverse of the two-dollar bill. The canvas was also mentioned in the song ‘No John Trumbull – Intro" by the American hip hop band ‘The Roots’.
Nowadays, the paintings by John Trumbull are preserved in such well-known art places as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York City Hall, both in New York City, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, the Yale University Art Gallery, the New-York Historical Society and others.
In 2013, a painting by the artist called ‘George Washington’ was purchased at Christie's in New York City for $1,323,750.
(An autobiography composed by the artist)
1841The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar
The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis
Declaration of Independence
Self-portrait
Alexander Hamilton
Self-portrait
The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton
Portrait of George Washington and William 'Billy' Lee
The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec
George Washington Before the Battle of Trenton
The Surrender of the Hessian troops at the Battle of Trenton
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775
General George Washington Resigning his Commission
Jonathan Trumbull Jr. with Mrs. Trumbull and Faith Trumbull
The Surrender of General Burgoyne
Patrick Tracy
Alexander Hamilton
George Washington with Horse
The Death of Paulus Aemilius at the Battle of Cannae
Jabez Huntington Jr.
Belesarius
Jeremiah Wadsworth and His Son Daniel Wadsworth
Philip Church
Portrait of Captain Samuel Blodget in Rifle Dress
Sarah Trumbull with a Spaniel
Portrait of Mrs. Isaac Bronson (nee Anna Olcott)
The Falls of the Yantic at Norwich
The Earl of Angus Coferring Knighthood on De Wilton
Holy Family
The Misses Mary and Hannah Murray
Quotations: "The great object of my wishes... is to take up the History of Our Country, and paint the principal Events particularly of the late War."
Physical Characteristics: John Trumbull had an accident in his boyhood during which he injured his left eye and became almost monocular.
John Trumbull married an amateur painter from United Kingdom, Sarah Hope Harvey, on October 1, 1800. John Trumbull and his wife's remains are buried beneath the Trumbull Gallery at the Yale University Art Gallery.
He was a first cousin to the poet John Trumbull
He served as the first commissary general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War.
He was the 20th Connecticut governor and the second Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
