son of Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut
self-taught, copied works of John Singleton Copley while studying at Harvard College (1771-73); rented former studio of painter John Smibert and studied Smibert’s copies of Old Master paintings (1778-80); with Benjamin West (1780 and 1784-89, London); Royal Academy (1784-89, London)
1771 – meets Copley in Boston
1775 – aide to General Joseph Spencer during American Revolution
1776 – moves to New York; aide-de-camp to Generals George Washington and Horatio Gates; mapmaker for Washington
1780 – arrested as a spy in London; imprisoned (8 months) and deported
1785 – begins series of history paintings depicting American Revolutionary War
1794-1804 – returns to Europe as diplomat
1816 – elected director of the new American Academy of Fine Arts (New York)
1817-1835 – elected president of American Academy
1826 –National Academy of Design founded in protest of Trumbull’s outdated curriculum at American Academy; Trumbull’s paintings for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda installed
1831 – Trumbull sells Revolutionary War series to Yale College for the establishment of Trumbull Gallery
London (1780, 1784-89, 1794-1804, 1806-16); Paris (1780, 1786-87); New York (1789-94, 1804-1806, 1817-43)
United States government
Self-Portrait, 1802 (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven)
Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, after 1815–before 1831 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Declaration of Independence, 1786 (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven)
Resignation of General Washington, 23 December 1783, 1826 (U.S. Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C.)
Cooper, Helen A. John Trumbull: the Hand and Spirit of a Painter. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982
Jaffe, Irma B. John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist of the American Revolution. Boston, MA: New York Graphic Society, 1975
Paulson, Ronald. “John Trumbull and the Representation of the American Revolution,” Studies in Romanticism, vol. 21, no. 3 (Fall 1982): 341-56
Trumbull, John. The Autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull, Patriot-Artist, 1756-1843. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1950