Art. XXII. Notice of Colonel Trumbull's Picture of the Declaration of Independence.
Art. XXII. Notice of Colonel Trumbull's Picture of the Declaration of Independence.
It is proper that some mention of this great national work should be made, in publications less transient than newspapers; and as the fine arts are included within the design of this Journal, it may with propriety be noticed here. This is the greatest work which the art of painting has ever produced in the United States. The picture is magnificent both in size and in execution. The dimensions of the canvass are eighteen feet by twelve.
"This picture forms one of a series long since meditated by Mr. Trumbull, in which it was intended to represent the most important events, civil and military, of the American revolution, with portraits of the most distinguished actors in the various scenes. The materials for this purpose were collected many years ago, and two plates have been engraved from paintings of the deaths of Gen. Warren and Gen. Montgomery;[27] but the work was suspended, in consequence of the political convulsions, which, during twenty-five years, were so fatal to the arts of peace.
"The government of the United States have ordered four of the subjects originally proposed by Mr. Trumbull, to be painted by him, and to be deposited in the capitol.
"No event in human history ever shed a more salutary influence over the destinies of so great a mass of mankind: the wisdom of no political act was ever so soon and so powerfully demonstrated, by such magnificent consequences. And justly may the nation be proud of the act itself; and of those eminent men, its authors, whose patriotism (rising above enthusiasm, and the passions which have so often bewildered mankind) was calm, dignified, persevering, and always under the guidance of reason and virtue.
"The painting represents the congress at the moment when the committee advance to the table of the president to make their report.
"It contains faithful portraits of all those members who were living when the picture was begun, and of all others of whom any authentic representation could be obtained. Of a small number, no trace could be discovered; and nothing was admitted which was not authentic."
This picture is now, by permission of government, exhibited in the Academy of Arts in New-York, and will probably be shown in some of our other principal cities, before it receives its final location at Washington.
It exhibits the interior of the then Congress Hall at Philadelphia. Most of the members are represented as sitting in their respective chairs, or, in various instances, as standing in different parts of the room. Almost all the portraits were taken by Colonel Trumbull from the living men, and their accuracy may therefore be relied on.
The president, John Hancock, sitting at a table, and elevated somewhat by a low platform, is receiving the report of the committee declaring the independence of the colonies; that committee, individually illustrious, and in this august transaction collectively memorable, was composed of Franklin, Adams, Sherman, Jefferson, and Livingston. Mr. Jefferson, in the prime of life, is in the act of laying upon the table the great charter of a nation's liberties; while his companions support him by their silent but dignified presence, and the venerable Franklin, in particular, imposes new obligations on his country's gratitude.
The figures are as large as the life; and it may safely be said, that the world never beheld, on a similar occasion, a more noble assemblage. It was the native and unchartered nobility of great talent, cultivated intelligence, superior manners, high moral aim, and devoted patriotism. The crisis demanded the utmost firmness of which the human mind is capable—a firmness not produced, for the moment, by passion and enthusiasm, but resting on the most able comprehension of both duties and dangers, and on a principled determination to combat the one and to fulfil the other.
This moral effect has been produced in the fullest and finest manner by this great painter; and no true American can contemplate this picture without gratitude to the men who, under God, asserted his liberties, and to the artist who has commemorated the event, and transmitted the very features and persons of the actors to posterity. Such efforts of the pencil tend powerfully also to invigorate patriotism, and to prompt the rising generation to emulate such glorious examples.
The composition and execution in this picture are in a masterly style. The grouping of so many full length portraits, in a scene in which there could scarcely be any action, and in such a manner as to dispose of them without monotony, was an attainment of no small difficulty. The painter could not even avail himself of the adventitious relief of splendid costume and furniture, and of magnificence or rich decorations in architecture; for on this occasion both were characterized by an elegant simplicity only, such however as became the actors and the crisis.
The composition has all the variety of which it is susceptible; and there is also enough of it in the style of dress and of features to relieve the eye from any danger of satiety.
It is believed, that in this picture, the United States possess a treasure to which there is no parallel in the world. In no instance, within our knowledge, is there an exhibition to an equal extent, of the actual portraits of an illustrious assembly, concerned in so momentous a transaction.
It was a great thing to assert, in principle, the liberties of this country; but it was also a great thing to vindicate them by arms; and we rejoice that Colonel Trumbull is still to proceed, under the sanction of government, to delineate other scenes, in which Washington and his illustrious American coadjutors, and the flower of French chivalry, were the actors. In the maturity of his experience, skill, and fame—possessed, as he is, of the portraits of most of the great men of that period, taken principally from the life, and having been himself largely and personally conversant with them in their great deeds, we trust that the government will promptly second what we doubt not the united voice of the nation will demand—that the illustrious artist should dedicate the evening of his life to his country's honour and glory.
INTELLIGENCE.
