LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 October Rare Books & Manuscripts #675  / 

30339

John Trumbull ALS Declaration of Independence

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:6,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
John Trumbull ALS Declaration of Independence
<B>John Trumbull Historic Autograph Letter Signed</B></I> "<I>J.T.,</B></I>" one page, 8" x 8". New York, January 5, 1819. To Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Trumbull's retained copy; the letter he sent Adams is in the National Archives. In full, "<I>After a detention of two weeks on my way from New York, I have the pleasure to acquaint you that I yesterday reached this place with my painting in perfect safety; - it is now on the Road for Phila when I shall meet it on Saturday morning. In that City <B>I am offered the use of the room in which the Act passed, and shall avail myself at the offer to exhibit the picture for two weeks.</B></I> I may be induced to stop for one at Baltimore, & shall reach Washington early in February, prepared to place the Picture in the Situation which may be determined upon. On referring to my Contract, you will observe that <B>I am entitled to receive Six Thousand dollars, on the delivery of each of the four paintings.</B></I> If it be necessary will you have the goodness to see that the proper provision is made for this purpose in the Act of Appropriation. Your Father did me the honor to look at my work in Faneuil Hall and I was delighted to find him in good health & in the perfect enjoyment of all his faculties to a degree I scarcely ever witnessed at his advanced age. I left him well."</B></I> Contemporary note at bottom left in unknown hand: "<I>namely the first/President Adams.</B></I>" John Adams was then 83-years-old. On February 6, 1817, it was "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ John Trumbull, of Connecticut, to compose and execute four paintings commemorative of the most important events of the American Revolution, to be placed, when finished, in the capitol of the United States."<BR><BR>From <I>Autobiography, Reminiscences, and Letters of John Trumbull</B></I> (1841): "The choice of the subjects, and the size of each picture, was left to the president, Mr. Madison. I immediately waited upon the president to receive his orders…when we came to speak of the subject, the president first mentioned the battle of Bunker Hill…My reply was, 'that if the order had been (as I had hoped) for eight paintings, I should have named that first; but as there were only four commanded, I thought otherwise…the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, and that of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, seemed to me indispensable. 'True,' replied he, 'you are right; and what for the civil subjects?' 'The declaration of independence, of course.' 'What would you have for the fourth?' 'Sir,' I replied, 'I have thought that one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world, was that presented by a the conduct of the commander-in-chief, in resigning his power and commission as he did, when the army, perhaps, would have been unanimously with him, and few of the people disposed to resist his retaining the power which he had used with such happy success, and such irreproachable moderation. I would recommend, then, the resignation of Washington. After a momentary silent reflection, the president said, 'I believe you are right, it was a glorious action.' The price was settled, at eight thousand dollars for each painting, and, as soon as the new administration was formed under Mr. Monroe, the secretary of state was charged to prepare a contract on these principles, which was done."<BR><BR>On March 15, 1817, a contract was made between Trumbull and Monroe's Secretary of State, Richard Rush, for four paintings: "1st. The Declaration of Independence; 2nd. Surrender of the British to the American forces at Saratoga; 3rd. The Surrender of the British to the American forces at Yorktown; 4th. The Resignation of General Washington at Annapolis. And the said John Trumbull engages, that each of the aforesaid paintings shall have a surface of not less than eighteen feet by twelve feet, with figures as large as life…" Trumbull was paid $8,000 upon signing the contract and was to receive $6,000 upon delivery of each of the four paintings. On March 3, 1819, two months after Trumbull wrote this letter to Secretary of State J.Q. Adams, Congess appropriated "For the second payment to John Trumbull, for paintings agreeably to his contract with the Secretary of State, made in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, of the sixth of February, eighteen hundred and seventeen, six thousand dollars." Trumbull was paid treasury warrant No. 234, dated March 4, 1819, for $6,000. He was paid $6,000 for each of the three remaining paintings in 1820, 1822, and 1824. The paintings were placed in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in 1824 where they hang today. The letter has been expertly strengthened on verso with tissue and is in fine condition. A remarkable letter relating to one of the, if not <I>the</B></I> most famous of all American paintings. This letter is ideal to frame and display with a reproduction of the actual painting.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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