John Trumbull

John Trumbull 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.

Trumbull, John (1756–1843). American painter. Trumbull fought in the American War of Independence (for a time he was aide-de-camp to George Washington) and his career was devoted mainly to depicting the outstanding events and personalities of the Revolution. He was strongly influenced by Benjamin West, with whom he studied in London (he made several visits there, and during the first of them, 1780–3, was imprisoned in reprisal for the hanging of a British agent in America). In 1817 he became president of the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York, but his tyrannical attitude, especially towards young painters, led to many members leaving to set up the National Academy of Design in 1825. His pictures did not sell well, so in 1831 he gave those in his studio to Yale University Art Gallery in exchange for an annuity. The most famous of his works there, and one of the most reproduced images in American art, is The Declaration of Independence (1786–97), in which most of the portraits were painted from life. His larger works are usually fairly stodgy, but his smaller pictures and sketches can be much livelier. Trumbull, who died an embittered old man, published an autobiography in 1841.

Trumbull, John (1750–1831), member of the Connecticut Wits, graduated from Yale (1767), where with Timothy Dwight and David Humphreys he attempted to liberalize the course of studies and create an interest in modern literature. His valedictory oration, An Essay on the Uses and Advantages of the Fine Arts, attacks subservience to neoclassical rules, but its concluding verses, Prospect of the Future Glory of America, are perfect examples of neoclassical versification. After receiving his master's degree (1770), and while tutoring at the college, he wrote The Progress of Dulness (1772–73), a satire on college education, as well as a series of Addisonian essays printed in The Boston Chronicle (1769–70) and graceful verse. Removing to Boston (1773), he studied law in the office of John Adams, and was stimulated by him to interest himself in the patriotic movement and write his bombastic poem An Elegy on the Times (1774). While practicing law at New Haven and Hartford (1774–1825), he was drawn into the poetic circle of the Wits and into politics. Although he aligned himself on the side of the revolutionaries, he was cautious and moderate, as indicated in his literary contributions to the cause. He was a thinker rather than a man of action. At the instigation of “some leading members of the first Congress,” he wrote the mock epic M'Fingal (1782), satirizing the stupidity of the British. Later, he joined the conservative Federalists, cooperating with them in The Anarchiad, satirizing democratic liberalism. Although he remained active in legal matters, he outlived his literary vitality, and did no more than contribute to these collections during the last half‐century of his life. He was a first cousin of Jonathan Trumbull.