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.