After John Trumbull* (1756-1843)

General Washington at the Battle of Trenton

Details

After John Trumbull* (1756-1843)
General Washington at the Battle of Trenton
oil on canvas laid down on board
35 x 25in. (90.2 x 64.8cm.)

Provenance

Robert Gilmor, Baltimore, Maryland, until 1848
Henry Gilmore, Baltomore, Maryland, until 1865
Dr. Michael A. Abrams, Baltimore, Maryland
Dr. and Mrs. T. Edward Hanley, Bradford, Pennsylvania
Tullah Hanley, Bradford, Pennsylvania
Gift from the above to the present owner

Literature

The Denver Art Museum, A Guide to the Collection, 1971, p. 85, as Attributed to John Trumbull
T. Sizer, The Works of Colonel John Trumbull, Artist of the American Revolution, New Haven, 1967, p. 83
NY Times, April 10, 1969, p. 47, Jan 1970
Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 19, p. 507, 1936

Exhibited

Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Survey of American Painting, January-February 1934, no. 5
Hagerstown, Maryland, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, American Paintings Before 1865, September 1937, no. 9
Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1935 (on loan from Dr. Abrams).
Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June-November 1934, no. 382
San Francisco, California, Golden Gate International Exposition, Historical American Paintings, 1939, no. 24
New York, Gallery of American Art, Selections from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. T. Edward Hanley, January-March 1967 (This exhibition also traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, April-May 1967)

Lot Essay

This work is based on the celebrated portrait that was commissioned by the city of Charleston, South Carolina from Trumbull in 1792. As noted in his autobiography (ed. T. Sizer, 1953, pp. 170-1) the composition was conceived to show the General at his most heroic, noble and inspired. The original was, however, rejected by the city of Charleston as being too heroic and historical in flavor. Trumbull retained it until members of the Society of Cincinnati in Connecticut provided Yale University with the $500 necessary to purchase it in 1806.