| Object: | “The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776,” by John Trumbull |
| Date: | 1786–1820 |
| Medium: | Oil on canvas |
| Where to find: | Yale University Art Gallery |
What to know: In his historical paintings, John Trumbull (1756-1843) chronicled the main characters and moments of the American Revolution. With “The Declaration of Independence,” Trumbull memorialized the faces of America’s founders. While the committee who wrote the draft is foregrounded (including Thomas Jefferson, who hands the document to John Hancock), Trumbull depicts in life-like detail 48 of the 56 delegates who shaped the Declaration — even those who didn’t sign it — a project that took over thirty years. The result: a painting that is both a historical document and a symbol of American aspiration.
From the expert: “For Trumbull, art recorded history and secured collective memory, both for Americans and the wider world,” says Mark Mitchell, Holcombe T. Green Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at Yale University Art Gallery. “Trumbull’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ portrays self-determination, rather than violence, as the defining act that created the United States, and it remains deeply ingrained in the American visual imagination.”
Seen elsewhere: Today, an enlarged version of “The Declaration of Independence,” made by the artist in 1818, hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, along with three other Revolutionary War scenes painted by Trumbull.
