John Trumbull

American, 1756 - 1843

BiographyBorn in Lebanon, Connecticut. Active dates: 1771-1831. Painter, artist, diplomat. Son of Jonathan Trumbull (1710-1785, Governor of Connecticut) and Faith Robinson (1718-1780). In 1771 Trumbull was sent to Harvard University. On his way be met John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Impressed by his person and talent, Trumbull was inspired to make art his life's work. Following his graduation in 1773 he returned home, and continued painting. When the Revolutionary War began, his father arranged for Trumbull to become an aide to General Joseph Spencer (1714-1789). Due to the British evacuation of Boston, he moved to New York in March of 1776. His skill at drawing maps brought him to the attention of General George Washington (1732-1799) and General Horatio Gates (1727-1806), for whom he served as an aide-de-camp and adjutant-general respectively. He eventually earned the rank of colonel but he resigned in 1777. He returned to Lebanon, Connecticut to paint. A year later, he moved to Boston and continued to continue painting and studying. In 1780 he traveled to France and later to England where he sought out painter Benjamin West (1738-1820), who agreed to take him as a pupil. In the still politically charged climate of the Revolution, Trumbull was soon arrested as a spy, charged with treason, and deported to America. He returned to London in 1784 to continue his study with West and to attend classes at the Royal Academy. In 1785, at West's suggestion and with Thomas Jefferson's (1743-1826, then an American minister in Paris) encouragement, Trumbull began a series of paintings illustrating iconic events of the American Revolution. It is regarded as his greatest work. In 1789, he came back to America but left five years later for Europe where he served as an American diplomat and administrator. He returned to New York in 1804 and became the most sought after portrait painter. His stay only lasted four years; he returned to England for an additional eight. Upon his return in 1817, he was elected director of the new American Academy of Fine Arts, and served as president from 1817-1835. 1817 was also significant for Trumbull because it was the year in which he was commissioned to paint four life-size Revolutionary War scenes for the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. In 1826 he founded the National Academy of Design. In 1831, deeply in debt, he sold most of the paintings that he still possessed to Yale College, in return for an annuity and the establishment of a Gallery named after him. The Trumbull Gallery was also designed by the artist and, according to his wishes, he was buried beneath the life-sized portrait of George Washington at the Battle of Trenton.

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