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Trumbull (JOHN an American artist born)

JOHN, an American artist; born in Lebanon, Conn., June 6, 1756; grandson of of the first Jonathan Trumbull; was graduated at Harvard College in 1773; studied painting in Boston; served in the Revolutionary War on the staffs of Generals Washington and Gates; and in 1780 went to England to become a pupil of Benjamin West, but was arrested on a charge of treason and forced to leave the country. On the conclusion of peace he returned to England and resumed his studies under West. In 1786 he produced his first historical picture, the "Battle of Bunker Hill"; which was soon followed by the "Death of Montgomery Before Quebec" and the well known "Sortie of the Garrison from Gibraltar." After serving for several years as a secretary to John Jay, the American minister to England, and as a commissioner to execute the seventh article of Jay's treaty, he returned to his profession. In 1817 he was employed by Congress to paint four pictures for the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. For these works, which represented "The Declaration of Independence," the "Surrender of Burgoyne," the "Surrender of Cornwallis," and the "Resignation of Washington Washington at Annapolis," he received $32,000. Subsequently he was for many years engaged in finishing former sketches and painting copies of the National pictures, many of which, together with portraits and several copies of old masters, 54 pictures in all, he gave to Yale College in consideration of an annuity of $1,000. He died in New York City, Nov. 10, 1843.