John Trumbull

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: John Trumbull

(born June 6, 1756, Lebanon, Conn. — died Nov. 10, 1843, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. painter, architect, and author. The son of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull (1710 – 85), he served as an aide to George Washington during the American Revolution and later as secretary to John Jay in London. In 1784 he studied painting in London with Benjamin West, and with West's encouragement he began the celebrated series of historical paintings and engravings he would work on throughout his life. In 1817 he was commissioned by Congress to paint the four large pictures that decorate the Capitol rotunda (completed 1826); most of the figures in the often-reproduced Declaration of Independence were painted from life.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: John Trumbull

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Trumbull, John, 1750-1831, American poet, b. Westbury (now Watertown), Conn. He passed the entrance examinations to Yale when he was seven, but did not enter until he was thirteen. While tutoring at Yale he wrote The Progress of Dulness (1772-73), a satire on educational follies. In 1773 he entered the law office of John Adams and was drawn into the political fervor of his times, writing the bombastic An Elegy of the Times (1774) and the mock-epic burlesque of Tory politics, M'Fingal (1775-82). One of the Connecticut Wits, he contributed to the Anarchiad and the Echo and was an ardent Federalist.

Dictionary: Trum·bull¹ (trŭm'bəl)

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, John 1750-1831.

American poet noted for his satirical works, including The Progress of Dulness (1772-1773).

Works: Works by John Trumbull

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1770	"An Essay on the Uses and Advantages of the Fine Arts." Trumbull's valedictory oration at Yale urges a liberalization of the college curriculum and concludes with the patriotic verses "Prospect of the Future Glory of America."
1772	"The Progress of Dulness." The author's most popular work is a verse satire published in three parts and completed in 1773. Trumbull mocks Yale's educational system as well as its techniques for instructing ministers. The main characters, Tom Brainless, Dick Hairbrain, and Harriet Simper, typify the horrific, if humorous, results of Yale pedagogy.
1774	"An Elegy for the Times." While studying law in John Adams's Boston office, Trumbull produces this patriotic poem.
1775	M'Fingal. Trumbull issues the first part of his greatest achievement, a mock-epic in tetrameter couplets modeled on Samuel Butler's Hudibras (1663). It satirizes the events of 1775 and leading figures through the experiences of the title figure, a blundering Loyalist who inadvertently proves the patriots' case. Divided into two cantos in 1776, the complete four-canto work would be completed in 1782.
1782	M'Fingal: A Modern Epic Poem in Four Cantos. Trumbull completes his masterpiece, a comic satire on the events of 1775 from the perspective of a blundering Loyalist. After M'Fingal is tarred and feathered, he attends a Tory meeting where he predicts the British defeat and the rise of the American nation.

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	Connecticut Wits (literature)
	Charles Loring Elliott (American painter)
	Francis Alexander (art)

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		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
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		Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more