Abstract
The four paintings by John Trumbull (1756–1843) that hang in the great Capitol Rotunda — The Declaration of Independence, The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, The Resignation of General Washington (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4) — depict the four most decisive moments in the American War of Independence and represent the artist's solution to his moral conflict arising from, on the one hand, the claims of virtue, directing his energies to a serious pursuit for the public good, and on the other, the need to earn his living by making portraits, which he considered frivolous, simply satisfying his selfish pride.1
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Notes
For identification of the figures represented in the paintings, see the "Key" drawings in Irma B. Jaffe, John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist of the American Revolution ( Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975 )
John Trumbull, Autobiography, Reminiscences, Letters of John Trumbull. Quoted in Irma B. Jaffe, John Trumbull, 180.
Jonathan Richardson, An Essay on the Theory of Painting. (London, 1715), 2930.
JTJonathan T. Sr., 3 Nov. 1784; Trumbull Papers, Connecticut Historical Society; JTJonathan T, 15 Nov. 1784 and 18 Jan. 1785, Trumbull Papers, Beinecke Library, Yale University Libraries.
Benjamin Silliman, Notebook. Unpublished Biographical Sketch of Trumbull, 1857. Yale University Library, Trumbull Papers. Cited in Jaffe, John Trumbull.
These are the original, small paintings now in the Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. They are illustrated in color in Jaffe, 18.
Jefferson to Barbour, 19 January 1817, New York public library, Manuscripts and Archives Division. Also quoted in Jaffe, 235.
Adams to Trumbull, 1 January 1817, in Trumbull's interleaved Autobiography. Yale University Library, Manuscripts Division, Franklin Collection, vol 1. Also quoted in Jaffe, 251
Mark Boatner III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution ( New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1976 ), 979.
The sketches for Yorktown are illustrated in Jaffe, John Trumbull,Figs. 102, 104.
Trumbull, Autobiography. Also Jaffe, John Trumbull, 236.
James Thomas Flexner, Washington, The Indispensable Man. ( Boston/Toronto: Little/Brown, 1974 ), 170
Trumbull, "Description of the Four Pictures" in Subjects of the Revolution (New York, 1827). Also Jaffe, 263.
Jaffe, 1 14-1 17. Also Irma B. Jaffe, Trumbull: The Declaration of Independence (London: Allen Lane Penguin Books, Ltd., 1976), and Jaffe, The American Art Journal,Vol. III, No. 1 (Spring 1971): 5-15. The mistaken image of Stephen Hopkins, Governor of Rhode Island, was used for the portrait of Hopkins that hung in the Office of the Governor of Rhode Island until 1990 when a commission, having investigated and confirmed my discovery, commisioned a young Rhode Island artist, John Hagen, to paint a new portrait based on the correct image: the eighth seated man from the left.
Jafffe, John Trumbull,8.
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Jaffe, I.B. (2002). Virtue and Virtual Reality in John Trumbull’s Pantheon . In: Babich, B.E. (eds) Hermeneutic Philosophy of Science, Van Gogh’s Eyes, and God. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 225. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1767-0_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1767-0_24
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