John Trumbull: Painter of the Revolution

In an age before photography, America was fortunate to have a painter of the skill of John Trumbull to give us a visual narrative of those stirring days and portraits of so many of the participants.  A veteran of the American Revolution, serving as an aide to George Washington and deputy adjutant general to Horation Gates, Trumbull painted with one eye, having lost sight in the other as a result of a childhood accident.

Some of the more notable paintings of Trumbull are:

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill

The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec

Declaration of Independence

The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga

The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown

Trumbull allowed future generations of Americans to visualize these scenes of the birth of their nation.  Of course, the man was not without his critics:

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