Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution

About this book

The complicated life and legacy of John Trumbull, whose paintings portrayed both the struggle and the principles that distinguished America’s founding moment  “Nuanced, engaging and incisive.”—Stephen Brumwell, Wall Street Journal  “Succinct, both scholarly and direct. . . . Wonderful art history.”—Brian T. Allen, National Review   John Trumbull (1756–1843) experienced the American Revolution firsthand—he served as aid to George Washington and Horatio Gates, was shot at, and was jailed as a spy. He made it his mission to record the war, giving visual form to what most citizens of the new United States thought: that they had brought into the world a great and unprecedented political experiment. His purpose, he wrote, was “to preserve and diffuse the memory of the noblest series of actions which have ever presented themselves in the history of man.” Although Trumbull’s contemporaries viewed him as a painter, Trumbull thought of himself as a historian.   Richard Brookhiser tells Trumbull’s story of acclaim and recognition, a story complicated by provincialism, war, a messy personal life, and, ultimately, changing fashion. He shows how the artist’s fifty-year project embodied the meaning of American exceptionalism and played a key role in defining the values of the new country. Trumbull depicted the story of self-rule in the modern world—a story as important and as contested today as it was 250 years ago.

Details

Format

Hardcover

ISBN-13

9780300259704

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published

May 28, 2024

Pages

276

Weight

19.2 oz

Subject

Biography & Autobiography