Study for "The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown"

Artist John Trumbull American, 1756–1843

Datecirca 1787–1791

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensionsheight and width: 14 3/4 × 21 15/16 in. (37.5 × 55.7 cm)
frame: 22 1/2 × 29 3/4 × 3 1/4 in. (57.2 × 75.6 × 8.3 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Ann and Jim Goodnight

Object number2016.8.3

On View

On view

Provenance**Created United States, ca. 1787–1791; collection of the artist; probably given to Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, VA, 1791; [Jefferson Sale, Mr. Harding’s Gallery, Boston, MA, July 19, 1833]; Alfred Lawrence Aiken (1870–1946); to his son, Prof. William Appleton Aiken (1907–57), Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.; to wife, Phyllis A. Gallatin Aiken (1908–78), 1957; to children David Aiken, Timothy Aiken, and Penelope Aiken Emery, 1978; [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY, 1981]; to Richard Manoogian, Grosse Pointe, MI, 1981–85; [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY, 1985–86]; [Marvin Sadik, Falmouth, ME, 1986]; Robert Allen, Oyster Bay, NY, 1986; [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY, 2002]; sold to Dr. and Mrs. James H. Goodnight, Cary, NC, 2002; given to NCMA, 2015.Published ReferencesA Catalogue of the Second Exhibition of Paintings in the Athenaeum Gallery (Boston: Athenaeum Gallery, May 1, 1828), no. 310.

John Trumbull, Autobiography: Reminiscences and Letters of John Trumbull from 1756–1841 (New York and London: Wiley and Putnam; New Haven: B. L. Hamlen, 1841), viii, 147, 151.

Mabel Munson Swan, The Athenaeum Gallery 1827–1873 (Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 1940), 42–43, 85, 87, 89.

Theodore Sizer, “A Tentative ‘Short-Title’ Checklist of the Works of Colonel John Trumbull,” Art Bulletin, vol. 30 no. 3 (September 1948), 218, listed as lost.

Charles H. Morgan and Margaret C. Toole, “Benjamin West: His Times and His Influence,” Art in America, vol. 38 no. 4 (December 1950), 242.

Theodore Sizer, The Works of Colonel John Trumbull: Artist of the American Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950), 75–76; (1967), 99–100.

John and Blanche Leeper, “American Processional: History on Canvas,” National Geographic, vol. 99 (February 1951), 173, 176, 187, illus., lent by William Appleton Aiken.

Theodore Sizer, ed., The Autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull, PatriotArtist (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953), 147, fn. 270.

Edgar Preston Richardson, Painting in America, from 1502 to the Present (New York: Crowell, 1965), 95.

Irma B. Jaffe, John Trumbull, Patriot-Artist of the American Revolution (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975), 126–29, 139–40, 154, 262, 319, illus. (b-w), 129, fig. 104.

Robert Perkins and William Gavin, Boston Athenaeum Art Exhibition Index 1827–1874 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1980), 44, 207, 208, 241.

Susan R. Stein, The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993), 130–31.

Susan R. Stein, “Furnishings at Monticello,” Antiques, vol. 144 no. 1 (July 1993), 74–75, illus. (in situ) pl. IX.

Susan R. Stein, “Jefferson’s museum at Monticello,” Antiques, vol. 144 no. 1 (July 1993), 82, illus. (color, detail) pl. IV.

Orla Swift, “Benefactor Fills Gap in Gallery,” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 1A, 9A, illus.

John W. Coffey and Laura Fravel, A Preliminary Catalogue of The Art Collection of Ann and Jim Goodnight (Privately printed [NCMA], 2014), no. 2, illus. (color).

Exhibition HistoryProbably Boston, MA, Boston Athenaeum, “Second Exhibition,” 1828, no. 310.

Probably Boston, MA, Mr. Harding’s Gallery, “Catalogue of Valuable Oil Paintings … Being the Collection of the Late President Jefferson,” July 19, 1833, no. 32.

New London, CT, Lyman Allyn Museum, “Eighty Eminent Painters of Connecticut,” March 9–April 20, 1947, no. 13, lent by William A. Aiken, Bethlehem, PA.

Probably Worcester, MA, Worcester Art Museum, 1949 [per Hirschl & Adler].

Amherst, MA, Mead Art Building of Amherst College, “Benjamin West: His Times and His Influence,” May 9–30, 1950, no. 31, lent by Prof. W. Appleton Aiken.

Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, “American Processional 1492–1900,” 1950, p. 78, no. 72, p. 79 (illus.), p. 237, lent by William Appleton Aiken, courtesy Worcester Art Museum.

Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Athenaeum, “John Trumbull: Painter-Patriot,” October 10–November 25, 1956, p. 24 no. 76a, lent by W. Appleton Aiken through the Worcester Art Museum.

Allentown, PA, Allentown Art Museum, “The American Flag in the Art of Our Country,” June 14–November 14, 1976, p. 7 illus. (color).

Charlottesville, VA., Monticello, “The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello,” 1993, no. 7.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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