Declaration of Independence. Forty-seven faces — and the newcomer who is not yet there
Forty-seven men from Trumbull’s key, each with his frame and an honest answer to who he was and what he did. The republic in this picture is a few hours old. Seven weeks later a thirty-year-old engineer from Poland will walk into the same room — with a job application.
John Trumbull, Declaration of Independence oil on canvas, 365.8 × 548.6 cm (12 × 18 feet) commissioned by Congress 1817 · completed 1818 · Capitol Rotunda since 1826 scene: Philadelphia, 28 June 1776 — the draft presented to Congress
The canvas with markers
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The canvas in the Rotunda is five and a half metres wide; here too it is wider than the screen — drag it sideways. Clicking a number or a thumbnail moves it for you. The “Enlarge the canvas” button doubles the scale — then it scrolls in both directions; leave with the Esc key.
Marker with a solid outline: figure identified by features or dress. Dashed: position assumed from the order of Trumbull’s key — to be confirmed on a high-resolution scan.
A tall room with grey walls and a beamed ceiling; red curtains on both sides, two doorways at the back. On the rear wall, crossed captured British flags and drums. In the centre, before a table covered in green cloth, stand five men: John Adams in a brown coat with a hand on his hip, the tall Roger Sherman, the dark-haired Robert Livingston, the tallest of all, Thomas Jefferson in a red waistcoat, laying a few sheets on the table, and Benjamin Franklin with long grey hair. Behind the table, on the right, the President of Congress John Hancock sits in an armchair; behind his shoulder stands the secretary Charles Thomson, in black. On the left, two groups of delegates — seated at small tables and a standing five by the wall; at the back, beneath the flags, three men, one in a Quaker hat. On the right, behind Hancock, five more stand; nearest the viewer the young Edward Rutledge in a yellow waistcoat. A carpet on the floor; the light falls from the left. Kościuszko is not in the picture — he will reach Philadelphia seven weeks after this scene.
The painting described in words
A tall room with grey walls and a beamed ceiling; red curtains on both sides, two doorways at the back. On the rear wall, crossed captured British flags and drums. In the centre, before a table covered in green cloth, stand five men: John Adams in a brown coat with a hand on his hip, the tall Roger Sherman, the dark-haired Robert Livingston, the tallest of all, Thomas Jefferson in a red waistcoat, laying a few sheets on the table, and Benjamin Franklin with long grey hair. Behind the table, on the right, the President of Congress John Hancock sits in an armchair; behind his shoulder stands the secretary Charles Thomson, in black. On the left, two groups of delegates — seated at small tables and a standing five by the wall; at the back, beneath the flags, three men, one in a Quaker hat. On the right, behind Hancock, five more stand; nearest the viewer the young Edward Rutledge in a yellow waistcoat. A carpet on the floor; the light falls from the left. Kościuszko is not in the picture — he will reach Philadelphia seven weeks after this scene.
Forty-seven frames
The numbers are the originals — those Trumbull gave the figures on his own key sheet. The frames come from the 3,000-pixel reproduction of the Architect of the Capitol; the faces of the background are soft in it.
Description of the selected figure
1
Figure number 1. George Wythe
Virginia delegate · lawyer · 1726–1806
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himFar left, at the very edge of the canvas — head partly cut off by the frame; first number of the key.
Worth knowingJefferson’s law teacher in Williamsburg and America’s first professor of law (College of William & Mary, 1779). In 1776 he sat in Congress only until June; he signed later. He died poisoned — most probably by a relative, his sister’s grandson, whom he had disinherited.
What the painter did with himTrumbull began his numbering with him, from the left edge. On the engraving used for the two-dollar bill (1976) the four outermost figures on the left, Wythe among them, were simply cut off.
New Hampshire delegate · merchant, later brigadier general of militia · 1730–1785
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himSecond from the left, just behind Wythe, in the row of heads above the small table.
Worth knowingA ship’s captain who made his fortune in trade — including the slave trade — and in 1777 commanded the New Hampshire militia at Saratoga: he signed Burgoyne’s convention of surrender as one of the American commissioners. He freed his slave Prince.
What the painter did with himHe died in 1785, a year before Trumbull’s first sketch; the face comes from another likeness. The only man present on both Trumbull canvases discussed on this site — here as number 2, at Saratoga as a commissioner of the surrender.
Where to look for himThird from the left in the row of heads behind the table, brown hair, no wig.
Worth knowingA physician from Kingston; on 2 July 1776 he was the first to answer “yes” in the vote on independence — New Hampshire voted first. Later governor of the state.
What the painter did with himHead from a portrait; Trumbull did not know him personally.
Where to look for himSeated in a grey coat in the left foreground, hat on his knee; the largest figure of the left group.
Worth knowingHe chaired Congress sitting as a committee of the whole during the days of the debate on the Declaration. Father and great-grandfather of two U.S. presidents. In June 1776 he joined the first Board of War of Congress — the body through which the applications of foreign officers passed, Kościuszko’s among them.
What the painter did with himTrumbull stressed his bulk — Harrison himself joked that, given his weight, he would “die in a minute” on the gallows while the thin Gerry would “dance for an hour”.
Virginia delegate · author of the resolution on independence · 1732–1794
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himSeated at the small table on the left, in a red coat and white wig, quill in hand — the only figure in this group shown in full.
Worth knowingOn 7 June 1776 he moved the resolution: “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” In those same days Kościuszko was preparing to leave France for America. Later President of Congress (1784–1785).
What the painter did with himTrumbull seated the author of the resolution at his own table, off to the side — far from the Committee of Five, though everything began with his motion.
Massachusetts delegate · organiser of Boston’s resistance · 1722–1803
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himSeated behind Harrison, to his right; grey wig, profile turned towards the centre.
Worth knowingJohn Adams’s cousin, the man of the Sons of Liberty and the Boston tea. In Congress from 1774 to 1781; later governor of Massachusetts.
What the painter did with himTrumbull painted him from life in Boston — one of the heads taken “from the living model”, as the painter stressed in his description of the picture.
New York delegate · governor from 1777 · 1739–1812
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himThird in the row of seated men to the right of Harrison.
Worth knowingHe did not sign the Declaration — in July 1776 he left to command the militia on the Hudson. As governor of New York for eighteen years he was responsible for the defence of the Hudson valley, and so for West Point, which Kościuszko fortified in 1778–1780. Later Vice President of the United States.
What the painter did with himOne of five men on the canvas who never signed; Trumbull gave him a place as a participant in the debate.
Where to look for himFirst from the left in the standing group of five behind Harrison; grey wig, olive coat.
Worth knowingA wealthy lawyer from Annapolis, later governor of Maryland and a federal judge. One of the four Maryland signers.
What the painter did with himThe standing five (9–13) are the most “portrait-like” part of the picture — Trumbull lined them up as for a group likeness, taking no part in the action.
Where to look for himSecond in the standing five, dark hair, no wig.
Worth knowing“The Bacchus of Annapolis”, as he was called for his temper. Later a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and the only justice of that court ever impeached (1805) — acquitted.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
New York delegate · owner of Morrisania · 1726–1798
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himThird in the standing five, grey hair, turned to the right.
Worth knowingHe signed although his estate, Morrisania, lay in the path of the British army; the property was ruined. Half-brother of Gouverneur Morris, who drafted the Constitution’s final text.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
New York delegate · Long Island farmer · 1734–1821
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himFourth in the standing five, wearing spectacles.
Worth knowingThe British occupied his Long Island farm for seven years. Later a congressman in the first Congress of the United States.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himLast in the standing five, in profile, partly hidden; red coat.
Worth knowingAfter the fall of Charleston (1780) imprisoned by the British at St. Augustine. The city in whose name he signed the Declaration was handed back to the Americans on 14 December 1782 — Kościuszko was among Greene’s troops that marched in.
What the painter did with himTrumbull did not find him alive (d. 1787); the face comes from a family portrait.
Where to look for himFirst of the seated men in the middle row, to the right of Clinton; balding, dark coat.
Worth knowingKościuszko’s exact contemporary (both born 1746). An artillery captain, wounded in 1779, a prisoner after the fall of Charleston — held at St. Augustine with Middleton and Rutledge.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himSecond in the middle row of seated men, head raised towards the Committee.
Worth knowingThe only Catholic among the signers and the longest-lived of them — he died in 1832 at 95, the last witness. Educated by the Jesuits in Flanders and in Paris, like Kościuszko — a generation older.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himThird in the middle row of seated men.
Worth knowingAn orphan apprenticed to a carpenter before he became a lawyer. Wounded and captured at Savannah (1778). Later governor and senator of Georgia.
What the painter did with himOn the engraving used for the two-dollar bill it was he who was dropped from the middle of the group — the only such gap in the row.
Pennsylvania delegate · merchant, “financier of the Revolution” · 1734–1806
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himFourth in the middle row, a heavy face turned straight at the viewer.
Worth knowingHe abstained on 2 July and signed on 2 August. As Superintendent of Finance (1781–1784) he held the purse from which the army — and Kościuszko — were to receive their arrears of pay. He ended in debtors’ prison.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himFifth in the middle row of seated men.
Worth knowingRobert Morris’s partner; he voted against independence and did not sign — yet he is in the painting. First president of the Bank of North America and of the Bank of the United States.
What the painter did with himSecond of the five “non-signers” on the canvas. Trumbull painted the debate, not the signing — which is why he could include him.
Where to look for himSixth in the middle row, profile in a white wig.
Worth knowingKościuszko’s contemporary and his doctor: in the autumn of 1797 in Philadelphia he treated the wounds to the head and back that the general had received at Maciejowice. It was Rush who took the Polish leader round the city’s drawing rooms — see Chapter VII.
What the painter did with himTrumbull knew Rush personally; the head was painted in Philadelphia.
Where to look for himSeventh in the middle row, hand at his chin.
Worth knowingThe word “gerrymandering” comes from his name. He refused to sign the Constitution and became Madison’s Vice President. Small and thin — Harrison’s opposite.
What the painter did with himTrumbull painted him from life.
Where to look for himEighth in the middle row, in profile.
Worth knowingProsecutor at the trial of the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre (1770), where John Adams was counsel for the defence. Known as the “Objection Maker” for his habit of dissent.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himNinth in the middle row, the last before the group beneath the flags.
Worth knowing“The poor man’s counsellor” — he gave legal advice free of charge. The British held two of his sons on the prison ship Jersey; he refused to plead for their release in exchange for changing his stance.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Rhode Island delegate · former governor · 1707–1785
Identified on the canvas
Where to look for himThe only man in a hat — standing at the back, beneath the captured flags; a broad-brimmed Quaker hat.
Worth knowingAfter Franklin the oldest signer (69). He suffered from a tremor of the hands; signing, he is said to have remarked: “my hand trembles, but my heart does not.” The hat is a mark of his faith, not of bad manners.
What the painter did with himHe died in 1785 — the face comes from a portrait. The hat makes him the most easily recognised figure of the background.
Where to look for himIn spectacles, just behind Hopkins, beneath the flags.
Worth knowingHe stood by the table to watch the faces of the signers — “I saw undaunted resolution in them.” The British burned his house in Newport. He served as collector of customs at Newport until his death at 92.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himThird in the group beneath the flags, profile turned towards the Committee.
Worth knowingOne of six men who signed both the Declaration and the Constitution. Treasurer of the Continental Congress in 1776 — British soldiers wrecked his house after the battle of Brandywine.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himFirst of the two seated men to the right of Clark’s group, white wig, face turned to the viewer.
Worth knowingBorn in Boston, trained under James Otis. In 1774 he predicted in a letter that the colonies would “build an empire upon the ruins of Great Britain”.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
North Carolina delegate · merchant, shipowner · 1730–1779
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himSecond of the seated men, behind Hooper.
Worth knowingRaised among Quakers, he broke with their pacifism to back the war. As head of the marine committee of Congress he gave John Paul Jones his first command. He died in Philadelphia in 1779, without seeing the war’s end.
What the painter did with himHe died seven years before the first sketch — the face comes from another likeness.
Where to look for himSeated nearer the Committee, in spectacles, white wig.
Worth knowingA Scot from Fife, one of the great legal minds of the Revolution; co-author of the Constitution, justice of the Supreme Court. In June 1776 he joined the first Board of War of Congress. He died pursued by creditors.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
New Jersey delegate · lawyer, composer · 1737–1791
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himThe last seated man before the Committee of Five, dark hair, turned to the right.
Worth knowingThe first American secular composer, a satirist and designer — the design of the stars-and-stripes flag is attributed to him. A judge and a friend of Franklin.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Massachusetts delegate · Committee of Five · chairman of the Board of War · 1735–1826
Identified on the canvas
Where to look for himFirst from the left in the standing five before Hancock’s table, brown coat, hand on hip.
Worth knowingThe engine of independence in Congress and, from June 1776, chairman of the Board of War — the body that received officers’ applications, including Kościuszko’s of 30 August 1776. Twenty years later, as President, he would sign the Alien Acts (1798) — Kościuszko left America, in secret, a few weeks before them.
What the painter did with himTrumbull painted him from life in London in 1787, where Adams was minister. The legend that Jefferson is standing on his foot comes from the engraving — on the canvas the feet merely touch.
Connecticut delegate · Committee of Five · former shoemaker · 1721–1793
Identified on the canvas
Where to look for himSecond in the Committee, behind Adams, the tallest of the group; grey coat.
Worth knowingThe only man to sign all four great documents: the Articles of Association (1774), the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. A member of the first Board of War of Congress (1776).
What the painter did with himTrumbull painted him from life in New Haven.
Where to look for himThird in the Committee, between Sherman and Jefferson, dark hair.
Worth knowingKościuszko’s contemporary. A member of the drafting committee who nevertheless did not sign — he left for New York before 2 August. Later Chancellor of the state (it was he who administered the oath to Washington in 1789) and negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase.
What the painter did with himThird “non-signer” on the canvas — and the only one in the Committee of Five.
Virginia delegate · Committee of Five · author of the draft · 1743–1826
Identified on the canvas
Where to look for himIn the middle of the Committee, the tallest, in a red waistcoat; laying the document on the table before Hancock.
Worth knowingAuthor of the text of the Declaration, Kościuszko’s friend and executor of his American will of 1798 — which he never executed; see Chapter VII. “The purest son of liberty I have ever known,” he wrote of the Pole in 1798. It was Jefferson who helped him leave America in secret in May 1798.
What the painter did with himTrumbull painted him from life in Paris in 1786, while staying at his house; Jefferson sketched the plan of the room for him from memory — which is why the doors in the painting are not where they really are. The red waistcoat is the only strong colour in the Committee.
Pennsylvania delegate · Committee of Five · 1706–1790
Identified on the canvas
Where to look for himLast on the right in the Committee, long grey hair without a wig, dark coat.
Worth knowingThe oldest signer (70). In late summer 1776 he was still in Philadelphia — he sailed for France only at the end of October. According to the account preserved by Kościuszko’s biographers it was he who examined the newcomer in geometry and gave him a recommendation to Congress. Kościuszko had just arrived from France; Franklin was about to leave for it.
What the painter did with himFranklin died in 1790, before Trumbull reached him with a brush; the head rests on the Duplessis portrait — the face the whole world knows from the hundred-dollar bill.
Where to look for himFirst of the four seated men behind the table, to the right of Franklin.
Worth knowingThe only signer imprisoned by the British solely for his signature — betrayed by loyalists in November 1776, released with his health ruined. He died in 1781.
What the painter did with himHe died five years before the first sketch — the face comes from another likeness.
Where to look for himSecond of the four seated men behind the table.
Worth knowingA Welshman from Llandaff. The British destroyed his Long Island house and imprisoned his wife; she died soon after her release. New York gave its “yes” only on 9 July — which is why its delegates signed in August.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
New Jersey delegate · minister, president of the College of New Jersey · 1723–1794
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himThird of the four seated men behind the table, in clerical black.
Worth knowingThe only clergyman among the signers and president of the college at Princeton, which the British turned into barracks. When someone said the country was “not yet ripe” for independence, he replied that it was rather “in danger of rotting for want of it”.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himLast of the four seated men behind the table, nearest Hancock.
Worth knowingPresident of Congress in 1779–1781 — that is, while Kościuszko was building the works at West Point and Congress was hearing reports from the Hudson. Later governor of Connecticut for ten years.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himStanding behind the seated four, dark hair, red coat.
Worth knowingSon-in-law of Governor Trumbull — the painter’s father. He came to Congress in July 1776 in Wolcott’s place and signed though he had not voted. He gave his house over to quarter French officers.
What the painter did with himFamily: the painter portrayed his own sister’s husband.
Connecticut delegate · general of militia · 1726–1797
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himStanding behind the seated four, to the right of Williams, grey wig.
Worth knowingIll in July 1776, he signed later. He commanded the Connecticut militia at Saratoga; the lead statue of George III pulled down in New York he had melted at his home in Litchfield into 42,000 bullets.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Where to look for himSeated in the chair behind the table on the right, in dark dress, profile in a full wig; receiving the document from the Committee.
Worth knowingAmerica’s most famous signature. As President of Congress he signed the acts of Congress of 1776 — among them the resolution of 18 October that made Kościuszko a colonel of engineers in the Continental Army. The richest man in New England, later governor of Massachusetts.
What the painter did with himThe only figure shown in the presidential chair; Trumbull built the whole composition on the Jefferson–Hancock axis.
Where to look for himStanding behind Hancock, at his right shoulder, in black; the highest-placed head on the right.
Worth knowingAn Ulsterman, “the man who tells the truth” — so the Delaware named him. For fifteen years he recorded every decision of Congress, including the one about the Polish engineer. He was not a delegate; whether he signed the lost original of the Declaration is still disputed.
What the painter did with himThe only figure who did not belong to Congress — Trumbull gave him a place as the institution’s memory.
Where to look for himFirst of the standing group at the right edge, grey wig, face to the viewer.
Worth knowingHe voted against independence on 2 July — and signed on 2 August. One of six signers of both the Declaration and the Constitution; Delaware’s first senator.
What the painter did with himHead taken, by Trumbull’s account, from life or from a reliable portrait; the painter insisted that none of the 47 faces was invented.
Pennsylvania and Delaware delegate · “Penman of the Revolution” · 1732–1808
Place per the order of the key
Where to look for himStanding at the back of the right group, in profile behind Read.
Worth knowingAuthor of the “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” — the most influential writer of the resistance, who nevertheless judged July 1776 too early and did not sign. The only one of the refusers who at once went to fight: as a private in the militia. Trumbull included him all the same.
What the painter did with himFourth “non-signer” — the painter honoured an opponent who did not betray.
Where to look for himThe most prominent figure of the right group — standing in full, yellow waistcoat, balding head.
Worth knowingThe youngest signer (26). It was he who forced the vote to be postponed from 1 to 2 July so that South Carolina could change its position. A member of the first Board of War of Congress (1776). A prisoner after Charleston, held at St. Augustine.
What the painter did with himTrumbull gave the youngest man the most canvas on the right — a counterweight to Lee on the left.
Where to look for himAt the right edge, dark hair, face in profile.
Worth knowingIt was he who summoned Caesar Rodney to his night ride from Dover so that Delaware could vote “yes”. He signed last of all — perhaps only in 1781. President of Congress in the months of Yorktown (1781).
What the painter did with himOn the engraving used for the two-dollar bill the two outermost figures on the right — McKean and Livingston — were cut off.
Where to look for himThe last, at the very right edge of the canvas — head cut by the frame, like Wythe on the other side.
Worth knowingA wealthy New York merchant, uncle of Robert R. of the Committee of Five. He died at York, Pennsylvania, in June 1778, during a session of Congress — one of the first signers to die after signing.
What the painter did with himTrumbull never saw him; the face comes from a family portrait. The last number of the key.
The scene is set on 28 June 1776. Kościuszko is then on the Atlantic — he sailed from France in June, and the crossing took ten weeks. He reaches Philadelphia at the end of August and on 30 August submits to Congress his application for a commission. The republic he has sailed to is not yet eight weeks old; its army has no uniforms yet, and Congress has no money. No one knows what this war will be. Lafayette will come a year later, Pułaski in 1777, Steuben in 1778.
The room in the painting is the room he stood in. Five of the men on this canvas sat on the first Board of War of Congress, through which officers’ affairs passed: John Adams (30), Roger Sherman (31), Benjamin Harrison (4), James Wilson (28) and Edward Rutledge (45). Franklin (34) — according to the account preserved by the biographers — examined the newcomer in geometry and gave him a recommendation; he sailed for France only at the end of October. On 18 October 1776 Congress made the Pole a colonel of engineers; the resolution bears Hancock’s name (41), and Thomson (42) kept the record.
Three other threads lead from this painting to Kościuszko. Benjamin Rush (19), his contemporary, will in 1797 treat his wounds from Maciejowice. Thomas Jefferson (33) will become his closest American friend and the executor of a will he will never execute. And the three South Carolina delegates — Middleton (13), Heyward (14) and Rutledge (45) — will fall into British captivity after the fall of Charleston; the city in whose name they signed the Declaration will be handed back to the Americans on 14 December 1782, and Kościuszko will be among those who march in. This page does not paint him into the picture. It shows who was waiting for him here.
—Tadeusz Kościuszko, captain without a postingon his way — Philadelphia, end of August 1776
Trumbull left out fourteen signers (among them Caesar Rodney with his night ride to Philadelphia and Button Gwinnett of Georgia); five of those present never signed: Clinton (8), Willing (18), Livingston (32), Dickinson (44) and the secretary Thomson (42). The painting is not a record — it is the republic’s memory of itself.
Before Trumbull
The Congress that votes
Robert Edge Pine (1784–1788) and Edward Savage (to c. 1801), Congress Voting Independence, oil on canvas · Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia · public domain (reproduction: Wikimedia Commons / Google Art Project)
Robert Edge Pine began this picture in Philadelphia in 1784, with the real Assembly Room before his eyes — its windows, fireplaces and panelling; he died in 1788 before finishing it. Edward Savage completed the missing portraits and published an engraving in 1801. It is the only depiction of the scene made on the spot, in the lifetime of most of the participants.
Trumbull knew the room only from a sketch Jefferson drew from memory in Paris in 1786 — which is why his doors are not where they were, and captured flags hang on the wall that no one had yet captured in 1776. Pine has the architecture, Trumbull has the faces. The republic chose the faces.
Painting, not reportage
What did not happen on 4 July
The day
The painting does not show 4 July. Trumbull himself said it was 28 June — the Committee of Five presenting its draft. The vote was on 2 July, the text was adopted on 4 July, and signing began on 2 August — and went on for months. There was never a moment when these forty-seven men stood together in this room.
The room
The doors are not where they are in Independence Hall, and British flags and drums hang on the wall — trophies Congress did not have in June 1776. Trumbull painted the room from a sketch Jefferson drew for him from memory in Paris, ten years after the event.
The people
Fourteen signers were left out because the painter found no reliable likenesses — he preferred gaps to invented faces. Five of those present never signed. Trumbull maintained that each of the 47 faces was authentic: from life or from a portrait.
The foot
Legend has it that Jefferson is treading on Adams’s foot — a sign of the quarrel between two friends and rivals. It is an illusion of the 1823 engraving; on the canvas the feet merely touch. On the two-dollar bill (since 1976) the picture has 42 people: the outermost on both sides were cut off, and two faces were drawn in.
History of the painting
From Jefferson’s house to the Rotunda
1786Trumbull, in Paris, at Jefferson’s house by the Grille de Chaillot, begins the small version (now at Yale); Jefferson sketches the plan of the room for him from memory and sits as the first model.
1787–1794The painter tours England and the States with miniatures: Adams in London, Sherman, Gerry, Rush, Hancock and dozens of others — faces “from the living model”. The dead he takes from other people’s portraits.
1817Congress commissions four scenes for the Rotunda — 8,000 dollars each. The Declaration comes first.
1818The large canvas is finished; from October it is shown in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore — the tour draws crowds and brings the painter about ten thousand dollars.
1819The painting is delivered to Washington; it hangs temporarily in the Capitol.
1823Asher B. Durand completes the engraving after the picture — it is this that spreads the composition across America (and is responsible for the legend of the foot).
1826Hung in the completed Rotunda, where it hangs to this day — the first of the room’s eight great canvases.
1832The small version (53 × 79 cm) goes to Yale in exchange for a life annuity for the painter.
1976An engraving after the painting on the back of the two-dollar bill, for the bicentennial of independence.
2008The most recent cleaning of all eight Rotunda canvases.
Where it hangs
The Capitol Rotunda
The canvas hangs where Trumbull himself hung it: in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington — a circular hall 29 metres across, beneath a dome 55 metres high. On its walls are eight paintings of the same size, 12 × 18 feet (3.66 × 5.49 m). Four of them are scenes of the Revolution commissioned from Trumbull in 1817: the Declaration of Independence, the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, the Surrender of General Burgoyne and General George Washington Resigning His Commission. The other four — scenes of discovery and colonisation — were added in 1840–1855.
The Declaration is the most famous of the eight canvases and the first to reach the room. It hangs beside the Surrender of Burgoyne — the painting in which Kościuszko does not appear, although it was his redoubts that won that battle. Two canvases, two absences: here he has not yet arrived, there he was never painted.
The tourBefore the canvas reached the Capitol, Trumbull showed it for a fee in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore (1818–1819). The painting itself became an event: the first “travelling exhibition” in the history of the United States.
The dome of the Rotunda from inside; in the oculus Brumidi’s Apotheosis of Washington (1865). Photo: Architect of the Capitol · public domain (work of the U.S. government)
Chapters
The film plays only after a click, from the youtube-nocookie.com domain — until then the page makes no connection to YouTube. Without consenting to playback: open the film on YouTube (from 2:56). Material of the Architect of the Capitol — a work of the U.S. government, public domain. Subtitles (PL, EN, FR) were prepared by kosciuszko.world from the film’s soundtrack; they also show in full screen — use the “Full screen” button below the film.
Transcript of the film
The Architect of the Capitol narration; timestamps jump to the corresponding point in the film.
The Rotunda
Imagine you are entering the rotunda of the United States Capitol as the designers intended. You climb the temple-like stairs of the East Front and walk into a vast space and encounter these mural-sized paintings by John Trumbull. Installed in 1826, they depict four Revolutionary-era scenes, two civil and two military, illustrating events that are foundational to America's origin story.
The rotunda of the United States Capitol has been described as the nation's political heart. This awe-inspiring space conveys the power not of church or monarch, but of government by and for the people, the very idea that Trumbull wanted to emphasize. At its inception, the rotunda's function was open-ended and symbolic, fertile ground for the addition of paintings, murals, and sculpture that would augment its meaning.
On drawings by architect William Thornton and then by his successor, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the rotunda was referred to as the Grand Vestibule and Hall of the People. Since its completion in 1826, the rotunda has served as a civic museum and national stage for joint House and Senate events and grand public ceremonies, including the lying-in state of eminent citizens. Because of its immense size and monumental art, it has always been a tourist attraction, a sort of pilgrimage site, drawing visitors to the center of Washington, D.C.
Four paintings
In 1817, Congress commissioned John Trumbull to undertake these four paintings for the Capitol Rotunda, the first such commission made to an American artist for a space that was not yet built, and the first instance when Congress was a patron of the arts. The four paintings that Trumbull completed are the Declaration of Independence, followed by the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, and to complete the series, the Resignation of General Washington.
Declaration
The first painting to be completed in the series was the Declaration of Independence. It depicts the moment on June 28, 1776, when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress, a sequence of events that Trumbull distills into one image. In the central group in the painting, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, is shown placing the document before John Hancock, president of the Congress.
With him stand the other members of the committee that created the draft, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Benjamin Franklin. There were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Trumbull represented 47 figures, including five who were not signers.
He took artistic license to depict Jefferson, not alone, but among other members of the drafting committee. The Declaration provides a fascinating case study about Trumbull's artistic process. It likely began when Trumbull was Jefferson's guest in Paris in the fall of 1786.
Trumbull intended to include all 56 figures, but he was unable to obtain all the likenesses. Of the 47 portraits here, 36 were taken from life. Others were copied from an existing portrait or taken of a son as a substitute.
Cornwallis
The second painting that Trumbull completed for the Rotunda was the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The subject of this painting is the Surrender of the British Army at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, which ended the last major campaign of the Revolutionary War. The blue sky filled with dark clouds and the broken cannon suggest the battles that led to this event.
In the center of the scene, American General Benjamin Lincoln appears, mounted on a white horse. He extends his right hand toward the sword carried by the surrendering British officer, who heads the long line of troops that extends into the background. To the left, French officers appear standing and mounted beneath the white banner of the Royal Bourbon Family.
On the right are American officers beneath the Stars and Stripes. Among them are the Marquis de Lafayette and Colonel Jonathan Trumbull, the brother of the painter. General George Washington, riding a brown horse, stayed in the background because Lord Cornwallis himself was not present for the surrender.
Burgoyne
The third painting that Trumbull completed was the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, finished in December of 1821. Burgoyne is in the center, and to his left is William Phillips, a British major general. Gates is in the center, where he refuses Burgoyne's sword, and instead offers hospitality by directing Burgoyne to the tent to take refreshment.
The American flag flies in the wind at the top of the tent. American officers gather at the sides to witness the event. Their varied dress reflects their different units.
Most were not actually at the event, but would have been below near the river with their troops. Trumbull is depicting people who were there the day of the surrender, but not witnessing the actual ceremony. Trumbull takes artistic license with the landscape.
The assembled group of figures, the tent, which would have been a tarp on poles, and even the flag itself may not have been the one that was flown. The cannon depicted was one of 47 artillery pieces surrendered to the American army at Saratoga. The scene suggests peace rather than combat or hostility.
Beneath the blue sky and white clouds, officers wear their dress uniforms. Weapons are sheathed or slung, and cannons stand silent.
Washington
The fourth painting that Trumbull completed was Washington resigning his commission, executed between the spring of 1822 and the spring of 1824. The composition depicts the scene on December 23rd, 1783, in the Maryland State House in Annapolis, when George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Washington, illuminated by the light falling into the room, stands in uniform before the president of the Continental Congress, Thomas Mifflin, and the delegates, among whom is Thomas Jefferson.
Behind Washington are his aides-de-camp, Colonel Benjamin Walker and Colonel David Humphreys, as well as spectators. The delegates and spectators direct their attention to Washington as he extends his right hand to return his commission. The empty chair, draped in a cloak, suggestive of a throne covered with a king's robe, symbolizes Washington's act of retiring from his position of power.
Trumbull based the representation of George Washington on one of his own earlier portraits.
Trumbull’s legacy
The Rotunda's architecture provides a powerful setting for the paintings. From a distance, the spectator cannot make out the individual portraits that constitute the mosaic of faces Trumbull painted into each scene. It is only when we get close that we can discern the facial features of young and old, farmers, merchants, and soldiers.
One could conclude that in some ways Trumbull sacrificed the whole for the parts, driven as he was by a notion of authenticity rooted in painstaking realism, that is, the realism of individual portraits. Because Trumbull's mission was to convey the values he viewed as foundational to American democracy as he understood it, honor on the battlefield, self-restraint, rational and orderly debate, he had to memorialize the actors central to the events he depicted. However, today, two centuries later, the actions of the people Trumbull portrayed, rather than their faces, may resonate more for viewers.
Capitol Rotunda, Washington
The main version, 12 × 18 feet, on the wall since 1826. Visits through the Capitol Visitor Center; admission free.
The Assembly Room in which the Declaration was presented and adopted — and in which, on 30 August 1776, Kościuszko stood before Congress. Today part of Independence National Historical Park.
Architect of the Capitol, Declaration of Independence — description of the painting, key to the 47 figures, history (1818–1826, cleaning 2008), reproduction www.aoc.gov
Architect of the Capitol, Revolutionary Paintings by John Trumbull (film, 2026) — an AOC curator on the four Rotunda canvases www.youtube.com
Yale University Art Gallery, Trumbull Collection — the first version of the painting (1786–1820), dimensions, provenance artgallery.yale.edu
John Trumbull, Autobiography, Reminiscences and Letters (1841) — Paris 1786, Jefferson’s sketch, the “no invented face” rule, the tour of 1818–1819
Journals of the Continental Congress, vols. V–VI (1776) — Lee’s resolution of 7 June, the vote of 2 July, adoption on 4 July; Kościuszko’s application of 30 August and the resolution on his colonelcy of 18 October 1776 memory.loc.gov
Alex Storozynski, The Peasant Prince (2009) — arrival in Philadelphia, Franklin and the geometry examination, the colonel’s commission
National Park Service, Independence National Historical Park — the Assembly Room, the signers, biographies www.nps.gov
Independence National Historical Park / Wikimedia Commons — R. E. Pine and E. Savage, Congress Voting Independence, public-domain reproduction commons.wikimedia.org
The biographies were checked against American sources (NPS, Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, Encyclopedia Virginia, universities and state historical societies). The assignment of faces to numbers in the back rows (markers with a dashed outline) follows the order of Trumbull’s key; the account of the examination by Franklin is given after Kościuszko’s biographers, not after a document.
Concord Hymn — The Shot Heard Round the World
Lyrics · Ralph W. Emerson · Arrangement · P. Białobrzycki
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Concord Hymn — The Shot Heard Round the WorldLyrics · Ralph W. Emerson · Arrangement · P. Białobrzycki
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