This collection contains 13 drafts and letters; 11 accounts, receipts, and checks; 1 document; and 2 engravings related to American painter John Trumbull. Among other topics, Trumbull's outgoing letters concern prints of his painting The Declaration of Independence.
John Trumbull composed 12 drafts and letters between 1776 and 1825. He wrote twice to his father, about his army commission (September 2, 1776) and about European opinions on the Revolution (July 8, 1781). Most of the remaining outgoing correspondence pertains to prints of Trumbull's paintings, especially The Declaration of Independence. One letter, from Mathew Carey to Trumbull, December 16, 1825, relates to a book that Carey believed Trumbull inadvertently "pocketed."
Financial records (11 items) include accounts, receipts, and checks, most of which are related to Trumbull's advertising and personal financial affairs. The collection also holds a copied deed concerning Jonathan Trumbull's land in East Haddam, Connecticut (January 30, 1768). Two engravings include a portrait of John Trumbull and his The Declaration of Independence.
John Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on June 6, 1756, the son of Jonathan Trumbull and Faith Robinson. His father served as governor of Connecticut from 1769-1784. Trumbull studied privately in Lebanon and attended Harvard College. After his graduation in 1773, he returned to Lebanon, where he taught school and furthered his artistic studies, which he had begun prior to his matriculation at Harvard. From 1775-1777, he was a member of the 1st Regiment of Connecticut Militia, and he briefly served as an aide to George Washington. Trumbull resigned his army commission in 1777 and moved to Boston, where he continued to educate himself in the fine arts. Around 1780, he traveled to London to study under Benjamin West (1738-1820), who became a close acquaintance. Though Trumbull was imprisoned for several months on suspicion of espionage and forced to return to the United States, he returned to London after the war. He lived in England, France, and the United States throughout the rest of his life. Professionally, Trumbull gained fame for his portraiture and a series of historical paintings about the Revolutionary era. He served as the president of the American Academy of the Fine Arts, 1817-1836.
On October 1, 1800, Trumbull married Sarah Hope Harvey (1774-1824). They had no children, but he fathered one illegitimate son, John Ray, with a servant woman named Temperance Ray. John Trumbull died in New York City on November 10, 1843.