Trumbull’s early life as the governor’s son, Harvard graduate, and American Revolutionary War hero set him apart as someone worthy of distinction and respect. His most cherished goal was to be recognized as America’s history painter, not just in his time but for generations to come. This would ensure that the sacrifices and triumphs of…
Portraits made in the past are open to interpretation in the future. Without the artist giving background information, the viewer provides the historical account. Trumbull’s paintings of Harvey challenge this rule, however. He painted her not just as a record of her life, but there seems to be a deeper reason. He did not need…
Another student of Benjamin West, Charles Wilson Peale, studied with him a few years before John Trumbull came to study with West. Peale’s father died when he was still a child, so Peale had to drop out of school and apprentice to a saddle-maker. He was not especially suited to this profession and when he…
To restart his career in New York, Trumbull concentrated on portraits which were an easy source of revenue. Always haughty, Trumbull had mixed feelings about this easily earned source of income. Trumbull spending his time on portraits felt painfully beneath him. Trumbull once told Jefferson that he believed portraiture was “frivolous, little useful to society…
After the American Revolution and during the time of the War of 1812, Trumbull would move to Europe, mostly London, and then return to America four different times. While living in England, between 1785- 1789, Trumbull would take time off from painting for the security of being a Diplomat with a salary. He had worked…
Early American artists often traveled from city to city to study and to paint the portraits of notable members of society and the wealthy elite. Many times, these artists also had higher aspirations of becoming history painters, but always they had to earn a living. Portrait commissions were the most reliable way for an artist…
Through his portraits of Sarah Hope Harvey Trumbull, Col. John Trumbull advanced beyond his monumental history paintings to explore intimacy and early American identity that revealed how their personal relationship shaped a softer, more private dimension of Trumbull and early American portraiture. Though often overshadowed by her husband’s fame as the “Painter of the American…
There is no record of what Harvey might have died from. A little over a year before her death, she and Trumbull were visiting his relatives when his nephew records that he had never seen Harvey look so bad. Harvey's notice of death in The Evening Post newspaper based in New York reads on Monday,…
This painting is unlike the other portraits that Trumbull painted of his wife. This painting feels more intimate, perhaps because it is not posed but it is a moment. Harvey does not look at the viewer but looks directly above in a plaintive way. Is she looking toward heaven or a loved one? Is she…
Now near her fifties and shortly before her death, Harvey sits alone in the portrait. Only hints of color and light surround her, although there is an implied wall behind her. The background of the portrait is dark with warm undertones that match her loosely curled hair. Much of her hair is covered under…
In the collection given to Yale University for the Trumbull Museum, there is a set of nude sketches in a folder. These are important by themselves because they make Trumbull the first known American practitioner of an academic life study. [1] Three of these nude sketches appear to show Mrs. Trumbull reclined in poses for…
Living in England, trying to sustain them financially painting portraits of well-to-do society members, Trumbull also tried his hand at many religious and some political scenes. One of the best examples is “The Woman Taken in Adultery,” painted in 1811. This is a large painting measuring almost 8 feet tall and five feet across. Trumbull…