John Trumbull

John Trumbull's paintings of the key events of the Revolutionary War are among the most familiar and revered images in American art. In 1832 Trumbull gave to Yale College his most important history paintings and portraits. This gift established the Yale University Art Gallery, making it the first college art museum in the Western hemisphere. In celebration of this event, the Gallery has mounted the first major exhibition of Trumbull's work. The fully illustrated catalogue that accompanies the exhibition opens with a biography of Trumbull by Helen A. Cooper. Following it are interpretative essays by Jules David Prown on Trumbull as a history painter, Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque on the artist's conflicting attitudes toward portrait painting, Patricia Mullan Burnham on the religious subjects, Bryon Wolf on the landscapes, Martin Price on the literary themes, and Egon Verheyen on the Capitol Rotunda commissions. The essays are followed by extensive catalogue entries on 170 paintings and drawings.