Andréa Fernandes
Feel Art Again: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis
by Andréa Fernandes - November 13, 2007 - 4:09 PM

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The past few days included Veterans Day (Monday) and the anniversary of John Trumbull’s death (Saturday). In honor of both, let’s take a look at Trumbull’s 1820 painting, “Surrender of Lord Cornwallis,” which celebrated the end of the Revolutionary War.

1. John Trumbull’s artistic achievements are impressive, especially since, as a child, the artist lost the use of one of his eyes.

2. Lord Cornwallis claimed sickness and did not attend the surrender ceremony, though many believe he only feigned sickness because he was so upset at the loss. Whatever his reason, his second-in-command, Gen. O’Hara (on foot, center), handed over the sword of surrender instead. George Washington, meanwhile, had heard of Cornwallis’ plan, and chose to send his own second-in-command, Gen. Lincoln (on horse, center), to receive the sword. Although Washington was not present at the ceremony, Trumbull depicted him (on the right, on the brown horse) anyway.

3. The representation of Gen. O’Hara on foot next to a mounted Gen. Lincoln is historically inaccurate and was actually accidental. Trumbull had originally included a mounted Cornwallis in the painting, but modified the figure to be Gen. Lincoln, with Gen. O’Hara on foot next to him, when people pointed out that the depiction of Cornwallis was incorrect.

4. There are more mounted soldiers, including Trumbull himself, than there are horses beneath the soldiers.

5. Trumbull was president of the American Academy of Fine Arts for nine years, but his dictatorial behavior led the students to rebel against him and found the National Academy of Design.

6. Although Trumbull graduated from Harvard in 1773, he sold his personal collection to Yale University and was later buried, with his wife, beneath the Art Gallery created to house his collection.

(A much larger version of the painting is available on Wikipedia.)

Feel Art Again appears every Tuesday and Thursday.

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Comments (6)

  1. I wonder if fact #4 has anything to do with Trumbull only having one eye?

    posted by Max on 11-13-2007 at 8:35 pm

  2. It’s a little like Hitchcock who included himself in every one of his films. It’s a clever thing to do, but too bad it makes the painting historically inaccurate.

    posted by Kelly on 11-13-2007 at 8:36 pm

  3. This article came just in time, as my class just learned about the end of the Revolutionary War today.

    posted by Jill on 11-13-2007 at 9:28 pm

  4. @Kelly:
    Well, he painted it nearly 40 years after the surrender… Do you really think that all the other faces are accurate representations of folks there? Likewise colors of horses, general lay of the land, cloud formations, &c? I’m a history stickler, but even I allow artists a little artistic license…

    posted by Sid Morrison on 11-15-2007 at 12:44 pm

  5. Actually, John Trumbull did not add a self-portrait in the painting. Though he served briefly as a Colonial officer, he was not part of the Battle of Yorktown. However, there is a Trumbull in the painting – John Trumbull’s brother, Col. Jonathan Trumbull Jr., who served at Yorktown, is in the painting. Often they are confused because the names John and Jonathan are so close. But, the Trumbull in the painting is actually the first son of Governor Jonathan Trumbull.

    posted by Michael on 7-26-2010 at 5:59 pm

  6. Sid,

    John Trumbull served in the Revolution during the early years and was an aide to General Washington. He also knew many of the men in the picture. He visited them, sketched the, and he also visited the battle sites. He actually began a small version of the painting as early as 1885. The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis was not a work done 39 years after the event – it was a work that took 39 years to complete!

    posted by Michael on 7-26-2010 at 6:04 pm

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