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John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence
American, 1826
Washington, DC, U.S. Capitol Building |
In the late 1970s and into the 1980s the BBC produced a series of TV programs on the history of science called “Connections”. The premise of the program, presented by James Burke, was that there are sometimes surprising connections that lead from one new idea or process to another in the development of science. The shows were as much fun as they were instructive. And, thinking about the painting by John Trumbull of “The Declaration of Independence” reminded me of them because I can make some connections of my own from it.
Trumbull was commissioned to paint a series of large paintings for the newly built U.S. Capitol Building, in the new city of Washington, DC, in 1817. The first of these was “The Declaration of Independence”. You can read about the details of the painting on the U.S. Capitol website.1
The composition was based on a smaller version of the painting that Trumbull had done in 1786 while resident in Paris, where he had assistance from Thomas Jefferson himself in planning it. Prior to this Trumbull had served in the Revolutionary army and had studied in London (under the American expatriate artist Benjamin West) and in Paris. And this is where the ‘connections’ come in.
The composition was based on a smaller version of the painting that Trumbull had done in 1786 while resident in Paris, where he had assistance from Thomas Jefferson himself in planning it. Prior to this Trumbull had served in the Revolutionary army and had studied in London (under the American expatriate artist Benjamin West) and in Paris. And this is where the ‘connections’ come in.
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John Singleton Copley, Collapse of the Earl of Chatham in the House of Lords, 7 July 1778
American, c. 1779-1780
London, Tate Britain |
Trumbull’s composition clearly derives from the western European tradition of ‘history painting’. Its immediate antecedents are such paintings as “The Collapse of the Earl of Chatham” by another fellow American abroad, John Singleton Copley, and, above all, the contemporary draft of “The Oath of the Tennis Court” by Jacques-Louis David.
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Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Tennis Court
French, 1790
Versailles, Musée Nationale |
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Poussin, Sacrament of Marriage
French, 1647
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland
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Rembrandt, The Night Watch
Dutch, 1642
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
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And these paintings themselves trace back to Renaissance works such as Raphael’s “School of Athens” and Ghirlandaio’s “Zechariah Confirming the Name of John the Baptist”.
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Raphael, School of Athens
Italian, 1509-1510
Vatican, Apostolic Palace, Stanza dellla Segnatura
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These paintings in turn eventually trace back through time to the great narrative mosaics of the Roman Empire.
Among these are “The Alexander Mosaic” from Pompei and the “Voyage of Ulysses” from Tunisia.
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Alexander and Darius, Mosaic from Pompei
Roman, 1st Century BC Naples, National Archaeological Museum |
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| Ulysses and the Sirens Roman, 3rd Century AD Tunis, Bardo Museum |
These differ from the productions of other ancient cultures such as Egypt and Mesopotamia which do not include narrative scenes. However, like these earlier cultures they are set in an eternal anywhere and any when.
It was mosaic narratives that first decorated these spaces, such as at the Roman churches of Santa Pudenziana and Santa Maria Maggiore.
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Christ in Majesty
Roman Apse Mosaic, 4th Century AD
Rome, Santa Pudenziana
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Domenico Ghirlandaio, St. John the Baptist Preaching
Italian, 1486-1490
Florence, Church of Santa Maria Novella, Tornabuoni Chapel
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So, as with much of western European and American civilization, the secular world owes much to the Christianity that has been its religious and cultural ground.
© M. Duffy, 2011
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1. http://www.aoc.gov/art/historic-rotunda-paintings/declaration-independence
1. http://www.aoc.gov/art/historic-rotunda-paintings/declaration-independence
