| Surrender of General Burgoyne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | John Trumbull |
| Year | 1821 (1821) |
| Type | Oil painting |
| Dimensions | 3.7 m × 5.5 m (12 ft × 18 ft) |
| Location | United States Capitol rotunda,Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Owner | United States |
TheSurrender of General Burgoyne is anoil painting by the American artistJohn Trumbull. The painting was completed in 1821 and hangs in theUnited States Capitol rotunda inWashington, D.C.
The painting depicts the surrender ofBritish Lieutenant GeneralJohn Burgoyne atSaratoga, New York on October 17, 1777, ten days after theSecond Battle of Saratoga. Included in the depiction are many leaders of the AmericanContinental Army andmilitia forces that took part in the battle as well as theHessian commanderFriedrich Adolf Riedesel and twoBritish Army officers: Burgoyne and GeneralWilliam Phillips.
ArtistJohn Trumbull (1756–1843) spent the early part of theAmerican Revolutionary War as a soldier, serving as an aide to bothGeorge Washington andHoratio Gates.[1] After resigning from the army in 1777, he pursued a career as an artist. In 1785 he began sketching out ideas for a series of large-scale paintings to commemorate the major events of theAmerican Revolution, and in 1791 he traveled toSaratoga, New York, where he sketched the landscape of the surrender site.[2]
Upon his return from Britain after the end of theWar of 1812, he promoted this idea to theUnited States Congress. On the strength of his application and the successful exhibition ofThe Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 andThe Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775, as well as studies for other proposed paintings, the Congress in 1817 voted to commission four large paintings from him, to be hung in theUnited States Capitol rotunda.[2][3]
The price was set at $8,000 per painting, with the size and subject matter to be determined byPresidentJames Madison. A size of twelve by eighteen feet (370 cm × 550 cm) was agreed, as was the subject matter for the four paintings: theDeclaration of Independence, theSurrender of General Burgoyne, theSurrender of Lord Cornwallis, andGeneral George Washington Resigning His Commission. Trumbull spent the next eight years executing the commission, completing this painting in late 1821. It was first displayed inNew York City from January to March 1822, and Trumbull supervised its hanging in the Capitol rotunda in 1824.[2][3] It has remained there ever since. Trumbull himself cleaned and varnished the painting in 1828, also effecting repairs to an area nearDaniel Morgan's foot.[2]
This painting depicts GeneralJohn Burgoyne prepared to surrender his sword to GeneralHoratio Gates. American officers gather at the sides to witness the event; their varied dress reflects their different units. In the center of the painting, and extending into the background, is Burgoyne's army along with itsGerman reinforcements. They were directed to the camp by American Colonel Lewis, Quartermaster-General, who rides on horseback in the far distance. The scene suggests peace rather than combat or hostility: beneath blue sky and white clouds, officers wear their dress uniforms, weapons are sheathed or slung, and cannons stand silent.[2]
Trumbull created a smaller, substantially similar version of the painting that now belongs to theYale University Art Gallery. The rotunda version was used as the basis for a commemorative stamp issued in 1994.[2]
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Weir provided this list, p. 69. The people depicted are listed approximately from left to right.
Art historians have noted that John Trumbull’s historical paintings, includingThe Surrender of General Burgoyne, were shaped by practical constraints related to portraiture. Trumbull generally preferred to work from life sittings or from existing, reliable likenesses in order to maintain accuracy in his representations. As art historian Irma B. Jaffe observed, Trumbull was “often forced to omit individuals of significant merit simply because he lacked a reliable graphic record of their features.”[4]
As a result, some individuals associated with the British command at the time of the surrender are not depicted in the painting. One such figure isCaptain John Stanley, aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne. Stanley had been wounded earlier at the Battle of Freeman’s Farm and was serving on Burgoyne's staff at the time of the surrender, but he does not appear in Trumbull’s composition.[5]
Trumbull based most figures on portraits he painted from life or sketches made in the early 1790s (during his preparatory work for the Revolutionary series). A portrait of Stanley painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1776 survives in the collection ofMary, Viscountess Eccles, but Stanley died in 1783, prior to Trumbull’s execution of his major oil versions of the Saratoga paintings.
Burgoyne.
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