After the Revolutionary War period in Col. John Trumbull’s life, another exciting chapter began. Trumbull moved to England, even as the Revolutionary War continued, and he began studying under Benjamin West. West was an American painter who had begun life as a portrait painter but had progressed in talent and respect enough to now be the official painter of George III. West was well known for his historical paintings and was exactly the kind of man that Trumbull had hoped to study under. Trumbull was in a delicate position, living in England and studying under Benjamin West, another American. Trumbull had just recently become a commissioned officer in the Continental Army and so it looked suspicious that he would want to go to England and study, but he was determined to make it work.
BENJAMIN WEST. Moses and the Tables of the Law. 1780. London, England.
Trumbull was a successful student under West. West had a studio in his house on Newman Street in London where Gilbert Stuart, often worked as his assistant. As was often the case in artist training at the time, Trumbull worked under West, and often with Gilbert Stuart, finishing details in paintings commissioned. There is a funny story about when Gilbert Stuart and Trumbull just met. Trumbull brought a picture to Stuart for some evaluation. Stuart, after studying the picture, remarked that he was “…puzzled by the drawing and after turning it this way and that…said…this looks as if it was drawn by a man with one eye…”To this, Trumbull took great offense because of his childhood eye injury. Trumbull should not have taken offense because actually what his limited vision did for his art was that it made Trumbull pay incredibly close notice to every small detail. In 1779, George III commissioned thirty-six biblical scenes from Benjamin West with which Stuart and Trumbull would help. In Wests’s painting “Moses with the Tables of the Law”, in thanks for their hard work, both Trumbull and Stuart inserted themselves. Trumbull is on the left side and Stuart is on the right.
