John Trumbull
John Trumbull is best known for his paintings documenting the people and events of the American Revolution. After graduating from Harvard College, he served with the Connecticut First Regiment in the revolution. He began painting shortly before going to England in 1780 to study with Benjamin West. Trumbull returned to the United States in 1789, and his friendships with American politicians helped him secure prestigious portrait commissions, and his career flourished on both sides of the Atlantic.
Is it possible to see what someone's future holds?
Trumbull served as an aide-de-camp for General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. This portrait was painted for a friend of Trumbull’s from the war years, John Barker Church, who helped finance the artist’s studies and career in England. Depicted with a rifle, drum, and plumed hat, Church’s son Philip appears ready to follow in his father’s footsteps as a supporter of military causes, and did so when he later became an aide-de-camp to his uncle, Alexander Hamilton.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd
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