Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

Infobox Painting

---

title=Declaration of Independence
artist=John Trumbull
year=commissioned 1817; purchased 1819;
placed 1826 in the Rotunda
type=Oil-on-canvas
height=365.76
width=548.64
height_inch=144
width_inch =216
museum = United States Capitol
city = Washington, D.C., United States

John Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence" is a 12-by 18-foot oil-on-canvas in the United States Capitol Rotunda that depicts the presentation of the of the Declaration of Independence to Congress. It was based on a much smaller version of the same scene, presently held in the Yale University art collection. [ [http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/popups/pc_amerps/details01.html Yale Art Gallery page on painting.] ] Trumbull painted many of the figures in the picture from life and visited Independence Hall as well to depict the chamber where the Second Continental Congress met.

The painting is often mistakenly called the "Signing of the Declaration of Independence", but only shows the presentation of the draft. While this event did take place, it was not actually in the presence of all the people in the picture.

The oil-on-canvas work was commissioned in 1817, purchased in 1819, and placed in the rotunda in 1826.

Thomas Jefferson seems to be stepping on the foot of John Adams in the painting, which many think is supposed to symbolize their relationship as political enemies. However, upon closer examination of the painting, it can be seen that their feet are merely close together. This part of the image was correctly depicted on the two-dollar bill version.

Trumbull's work shows 42 of the 56 signers of the Declaration. Five figures in the painting did not sign.

Unpictured signers

There were 14 signers of the Declaration who did not appear in the painting:
*Matthew Thornton (New Hampshire)
*John Hart (New Jersey)
*John Morton (Pennsylvania)
*James Smith (Pennsylvania)
*George Taylor (Pennsylvania)
*George Ross (Pennsylvania)
*Caesar Rodney (Delaware)
*Thomas Stone (Maryland)
*Thomas Nelson, Jr. (Virginia)
*Francis Lightfoot Lee (Virginia)
*Carter Braxton (Virginia)
*John Penn (North Carolina)
*Button Gwinnett (Georgia)
*Lyman Hall (Georgia)

On the two-dollar bill

Trumbull's painting is the source of the picture on the reverse of the two-dollar bill, which cuts out the farthest four figures on the left (George Wythe, William Whipple, Josiah Bartlett and Thomas Lynch, Jr.); the farthest two figures on the right (Thomas McKean and Philip Livingston); and seated in the left rear, George Walton. The bill features 40 of the 47 figures from Trumbull's painting. Two other unknown figures are superimposed in the engraving in between Samuel Chase and Lewis Morris and between James Wilson and Francis Hopkinson, bringing the total number of figures on the reverse of the two-dollar bill to 42.

Key to historical figures depicted in the painting

The following key to the figures in the painting follows the numbering used by the U.S. government publication "Art of the Capitol" (in the illustration of the key shown in this section) but provides a different (hopefully clearer) description of which figure is where in the painting, so numbers are not entirely in order.

Key to figures ("left" and "right" are the viewer's "left" and "right"; in each group, listed from left to right):

Four men seated on the far left:
*1. George Wythe
*2. William Whipple
*3. Josiah Bartlett
*5. Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Seated at the table on the left:
*4. Benjamin Harrison

Seated together to the right of Harrison and in front of the standing figures:
*6. Richard Henry Lee
*7. Samuel Adams
*8. George Clinton

Five figures standing together on the left:
*9. William Paca
*10. Samuel Chase
*11. Lewis Morris
*12. William Floyd
*13. Arthur Middleton

Three seated figures in the back between the two sets of standing figures:
*14. Thomas Heyward, Jr.
*15. Charles Carroll
*16. George Walton

Set of three figures standing together in the back:
*23. Stephen Hopkins (wearing a hat)
*24. William Ellery
*25. George Clymer

Ten figures seated:
*17. Robert Morris (first on the left at the table)
*18. Thomas Willing
*19. Benjamin Rush
*20. Elbridge Gerry
*21. Robert Treat Paine
*22. Abraham Clark
*26. William Hooper
*27. Joseph Hewes
*28. James Wilson
*29. Francis Hopkinson

Five figures standing in front:
*30. John Adams
*31. Roger Sherman
*32. Robert R. Livingston
*33. Thomas Jefferson
*34. Benjamin Franklin

Four background figures seated together near the right corner of the room:
*35. Richard Stockton
*36. Francis Lewis
*37. John Witherspoon
*38. Samuel Huntington

Two figures standing in the right corner of the room:
*39. William Williams
*40. Oliver Wolcott

Two foreground figures at the central table:
*42. Charles Thomson (standing)
*41. John Hancock (seated)

Three figures standing at right:
*43. George Read
*44. John Dickinson
*45. Edward Rutledge

Two figures seated at far right:
*46. Thomas McKean
*47. Philip Livingston

imilar paintings

Howard Chandler Christy's "Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" is a similar painting depicting members of the Constitutional Convention. Painted in 1940, the work is also located in the U.S. Capitol.

Footnotes

External links

Keys to the figures

* [http://www.americanrevolution.org/deckey.html Another key to the figures]
* [http://www.quiz-tree.com/Declaration-of-Independence-Trumbull.html "Declaration of Independence" Flash - based key]

Other

* [http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/images/trumbull-large1.jpgA much larger image of the painting]
* [http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/trumbull.htm A web page with some information on the painting]