216 Trumbull Gallery of Paintings in Yale College. 



designation be forgotten ; and if the spirits of the departed are 

 permitted to hover around our busy walks of Ufe, or to flit, un- 

 seen, into our most sacred retirements, may we not presume that 

 those who have left rich blessings to mankind, will be among the 

 number of our celestial visitants. 



CATALOGUE OF PAINTINGS, BY COLONEL TRUMBULL J INCLUDING EIGHT SUBJECTS 

 OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, WITH NEAR TWO HUNDRED AND TIFTY POR- 

 TRAITS OF PERSONS DISTINGUISHED IN THAT IMPORTANT PERIOD. PAINTED 

 BY HIM FROM THE LIFE. 



INTKODUCTION. 



In submitting to the view of the public the Series of Paintings, 

 commemorating important events of the American Revolution, 

 the consideration, than an entire generation of men have passed 

 away since the enterprise was commenced, and that very few are 

 now living who were actors in the scenes represented, renders it 

 proper to give some historical account of their origin, in order to 

 establish their claim to authenticity in the view of posterity. 



The artist, by whom they have been painted, was one of the 

 aids-du-camp of General Washington, in the first year of the Re- 

 volution, (1775,) and in the succeeding year, (1776,) was the 

 deputy-adjutant-general of the Northern Department, under the 

 command of Major-General Gates. He retired from the service 

 in the spring of 1777. 



Ardently anticipating the vast consequences of the Revolution, 

 and the future greatness of his country ; and having a natural 

 taste for drawing, in which he had already made some progress, 

 (see No. 27,) Colonel Trumbull resolved to cultivate that talent, 

 with the hope of binding his name to the great events of the 

 time, by becoming the graphic historiographer of them, and of 

 his early comrades. 



With this view, he devoted himself to the study of the art of 

 painting, first in America, and afterwards in Europe ; and in the 

 year 1786, he produced in London, his first considerable histori- 

 cal work, the Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's 

 Hill. (No. 3 of this collection.) 



John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, was 

 at that time their minister in London ; and Thomas Jefferson 

 held the same high rank in Paris. The artist was well known 

 by both these distinguished men, and this his first patriotic work 



