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Show THE SUMMIT COUNTY REE. COALVILLE, UTAH JOHN TRUMBULL I : The Painter of America's Epic "!' SCOTT WATSON By ELMO startled the boy out of of tteteacher voice rptone pages of his he Hastily his reverie knowledge of those four g in uneasy book, arithmetic s0 interested in JW Adventurers WWi i y- ' ? ,. Club TE thtrt?fL!rLLdSuSnhad gU, her six, and she lhad given four to her brother. Last summer, at the Fourth of July celebration in Center-- I ville, he had heard Congressman J. Bascom Parker extoll Fa'those Patriots of 76, the who rthers of the Republic Insigned the Declaration of before dependence." Here ',him was a picture of a group 'of men who must be the very Isagainst the British in Rhode land. When it proved unsuccessful, Trumbull returned to Boston, resolved to give up his ca- 7 - 3 V t f Streak of Death By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter reer as a soldier permanently and devote his life to painting. In May, 1780, he sailed for Paris where he called on Benjamin Franklin and told him of his desire to study under the great Benjamin West in London. Armed with a letter of introduction he went to London and West put him to work. When Major Andre, the British in America, was adjutant-genercaught and hanged, the young painter who had been an Ameriseemed to can adjutant-generathe British to be the logical man to be used for reprisal. Trumbull might well have pleaded that there was little similarity between his case and Andres, that he was in London only as a painter and that he was there by permission of Lord Germain, the British foreign minister. Instead, the truculent young Yankee boasted that he had been aide to that "arch rebel," George Washington, and that he was proud of it. Confined in Tuthill Bridewell, Trumbull may have had some uneasy moments as to what his fate would be. But if he did have them, he gave no sign and calmly went on with his painting. Meanwhile, his Tory friends, West and Copley, were working in his interests and i7'OU ! know, boys and girls, about half of our battle to live is fought against ourselves and other people, and the other half is fought against Old Dame Nature. For every Bill Jones who got himself caught in a whirling piece of man-mad- e machinery or had to fight for his life against some vicious or crazed fellow human, there is a Pete Smith, who finds himself in a jam with an earthquake, or a wild animal, or some other of Mother Natures tools of destruction. - Signing the Declaration of Independence. eloquence of John Randolph of painted in. A few months later Bascom had mentioned. For Paris to back Roanoke, congress authorized the went I wouldnt attempt to say which type of adventure is worse. Ive got the painter he could see plainly the title President to employ Trumbull to a hunch that one is just about as bad as the other. But theres something and added Jeffersons. iunder the picture Signing paint, at a cost of $8,000 each, the about Dame Natures right hooks to the jaw that makes them more Then the French Revolution four pictures which now adorn the terrifying than the others. I guess thats because we dont understand broke to put an end to Trumbulls (the Declaration of Independwalls of the rotunda of the CapiNature so well as we understand ourselves and the machines we create. work in Paris. In October, 1789, ence, " by John Trumbull. tol. to returned Jefferson and he both And heres the story of a bout with Nature, sent to me by And ever afterwards even America. Arriving in New York A Difficult Task. Mrs. John J. Sproul, of Keyport, N. J. Its one of those things (when he had grown to man-ihoo- d Trumbull found that the Constituthat might happen to anybody and everybody. And when it came meant this commission Accepting mention of Signing the tion had been adopted and Washthe task of enlarging his original along, it threw the whole Sproul family into a sudden, reasonless 'Declaration of Independence ington elected President. Here panic. small paintings to canvases 12 by the portraits of Richard Henry 18 feet, with figures, on wereAdventure came on the Sproul family in the dead of the night. They (brought back to the boy a ClinFrancis all sleeping Mother and Dad and the children. The Sprouls had Lewis, George Lee, a 100 wall feet high. So it was recollection of a day in school four children then, but only three of them were at home. The other was ton, Lewis Morris and Roger Sherwith some misgivings that Trumwhen he had sat gazing at a man were soon added to Trumaway for the night. The evening had been cloudy and threatening. The bull set to work first on his mastof on the wall instead bulls canvas. picture the Signing. He kept in sky had been black overhead when they had gone to bed. And now, suderpiece, The next spring the artist went denly, they were awakened out of a sound sleep by a series of loud, close touch with Jefferson by cor working his arithmetic to Philadelphia where he spent reports. crashing respondence while doing it and on three months adding more porThis Was No Ordinary Storm, No, Sir! October 23, 1818, he wrote to the traits. During the fall of 1790 of Monticello: have the "I Sage hunthat incident The a so terrific that the Sprouls jumped out of bed. It was din was by Multiply Trumbull was in Boston and New satisfaction to acquaint you that a thunderstorm but what a storm. The first sweeping patter of the dred or a thousand and you have Hampshire, painting the portraits my painting of the Declaration of rain quickly rose to a loud, drumming roar. The wind howled, and the a composite of the average Ameof John Hancock, Samuel Adams, ricans idea of what took place in Independence is finished (as far thunder, punctuated by bright flashes of lightning, sounded like a Robert Treat Paine, Josiah Bartas it can be, until I see it in its battery of siege guns being fired right beside the house. Independence hall in Philadeland on subsequent visits to lett on the at the Capitol) and, with per4, 1776, place Few people pay much attention to a night thunderstorm. birthday July phia Charleston, S. C., Philadelphia, mission of the President, is now of our nation. He may never have Some folks sleep right through them. Others get up and shut the New York and Boston added windows to keep the floor from getting rained on. But this storm publicly exhibiting in this City. It others. has excited some attention . . . was so terrific that the Sprouls were alarmed. Every crashing bolt of lightning seemed to be striking right around the house. Secretary to John Jay. That last is a modest underJohn Sproul was hardly out of bed he was standing in the midThe end of Trumbulls great statement for when he had endle of the bedroom floor when one of the little boys came running project was almost in sight when gravings made from the painting, into the room. political troubles at home and war people bought them eagerly even and the boy started for the stairs. As he did, he shouted back John abroad turned his interest and a cost each $20 though they Get the other children," he cried, and come down- Mrs. to the interest of his friends from the Sproul. large sum in those days. Jefferarts to these more pressing probson ordered two and, in a letter lems. In 1794 Trumbull was apaccompanying them, Trumbull pointed secretary to John Jay and wrote: accompanied him to England to It is delightful to me, that aid in the negotiations which rethe lapse of so many years, after sulted in the famous Jays Treaty. this work which I meditated, & For the next decade he was not a which you assisted me to arrange, painter but an American agent in Europe, part of the time as a commissioner carrying out the stipulations of that treaty. He was in Paris in 1797 on his way back from Stuttgart where he had had an engraving made from his picture of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Incidentally this picture played The Battle of Bunker Hill. an unexpected role in getting its painter out of a dangerous situaBeen to Washington and seen the after seven months succeeded in She Found Her Husband Lying Stiff and Still on the Floor. tion. Placed on the suspect list canthat his release. Trumbull rehuge gaining original painting, by Robdspierres agents, Trumvas on the wall of the rotunda turned to America immediately stairs as quick as you can. Ill light the lamp in the kitchen so you can bull was not allowed to leave SGC. but when hostilities ended he went under the dome of the Capitol. France. Pinckney, the American But he has seen reproductions of back to London again to work Mrs. Sproul Is Petrified With Fear. minister, could do nothing for under West. it innumerable times and he owes down went the stairs. Mrs. Sproul could hear him in the kitchen. John him. In fact, he told Trumbull With the spell of his countrys most of his knowledge of this, as She had started out of the room, headed down the hall toward the room was a there chance good that both well as other significant events in victory still fresh upon him he in which her two other children were, when suddenly she heard a deafenof them might soon find themconceived the idea of commemothe War of the Revolution, to the ing clap of thunder, louder than all the rest. selves in the Temple prison and genius of John Trumbull, the rating the principal events of the I could feel the house shake and vibrate, and immediately I on the to the guillotine. way Revolution in a series of large painter, who was, par excellence, it must have been struck, she says. "There was a smell thought Then Trumbull appealed to his the painter of Americas epic. paintings. His first was the piclike that of brimstone permeating the whole upper floor. I stopped old ture of one he had seen, even friend, Louis David, the For it was his brush which deand stood stock still for a moment. The children were still in their French painter, now a trusted though it was from a distance picted with almost photographic bed and I had to get them. But right then I couldnt seem to move. Trumbull John the Battle of Bunker Hill. The ally of Robespierre, who learned accuracy of detail such historic "I dont know how long I stood there, but it must have been for a that he had his Bunker Hill picscenes as the Battle of Bunker great Sir Joshua Reynolds, visitin 1786, is at last comfor presently it occurred to me that, since that last crash, Chaillot time, long at ture with him. "The picture is ing Wests studio, saw this picture Hill, the death of Montgomery at does it occur that I had not heard a sound from either my husband in the kitchen, or from Rarely pleted. worth many passports, declared and, believing it to be Wests Quebec, Washington at the battle two Individuals, advanced as we my son who had followed him downstairs. And then, all of a sudden, David and he led the American of Princeton, the surrender of work, praised him for it a high then were on the Road ofe Life I heard a voice coming from below. to the police prefecture with the compliment to the young AmeriBurgoyne at Saratoga and the Fear Lurked in the Blackness of Night. (Jefferson was then can. painting (which is a small one) final triumph in the struggle for Trumbull, thirty) remain to and Mrs. under his Cornarm. of says that voice sounded as if it came from the dead. It surrender the Sproul liberty, it to With Jefferson in Paris. see the completion of a favorite was her little son downstairs with his father and he was calling very the chief of police,Exhibiting wallis at Yorktown. David 37 told The of him the end Thomas Jefferson, American come here. Papas dead! project atas reat in years. that his Amd-icafriend had its conse feebly, "Mamma mamma she Son of "Brother Jonathan. minister to France, also saw this Event at that battle. "He is as beena had been stiff with fright and unable Ten seconds before, in hugood Born June 6, 1756, he was the painting when he visited London quences beyond all others move a muscle. But that sound shocked her into activity. She to Revolutionist as any of us, in it he and immediately recognized the son of Jonathan Trumbull, goverman history the Actors ran through the hall and began groping her way down the declared, whereupon Trumbull this nor of Connecticut during the Revwere Men who not only genius of his compatriot. He inwas allowed to depart in The lower floor was in total darkness. She began calling stairs. & unconsistent peace. vited Trumbull to come to Paris Act but by the to her boy asking him where he was. At last he olution, and trusted adviser of to America at the hysterically Returning as his guest and introduced him deviating patriotism of their subWashington whose name for his close of the War of 1812, answered. "Im here," he said. "By the high chair. to live Trumbull, good friend, "Brother Jonathan," her way through the dark house, she moved toward the sequent conduct, deserve of ManFeeling became the symbol for the United in the grateful memory high chair. Thunder was still roaring outside and an occasional flash States and continued to be that kind to the end of time. of lightning brightened up the room. At last she found her boy lying even after the He returned to New York and on the floor. She picked him up, carried him into the dining room and s "Uncle Sam" came into general asked him if he knew where his father was. "Hes in the kitchen by completed the other three paint-ineof Gen. the stove, the boy said. use. At an early age the junior I saw him fall down. I guess daddy-haThe Surrender been The Surrender of killed. Trumbull showed a taste for Bur'mjme, She groped her way toward the kitchen. Her bare feet lit on somedrawing and while he was a stuN-- " Lord Cornwallis" and Resignaof his Gendent at Harvard college his skill Washington thing wet then on shattered bits of broken glass. But she didnt even tion by at painting won the approval of feel it in the stress of the moment. She didnt know until later that her Commission to Congress. the distinguished artist, John husband had fallen with the lamp in his hand and that glass and oil were then Trumbull, seventy 1824 In Singleton Copley. to Washing- strewn all over the kitchen floor. years old, journeyed After his graduation from Harthe installation Storm Provides a Weird Tattoo. superintend j ton to vard Trumbull became a school She found her husband lying stiff and still on the floor. She of his pictures in the Capitol. His his but the finished of at teacher outbreak but was the great work began screaming hysterically at the top of her voice. But at the Revolution he immediately eneventful career was far from endsame time she was tugging at John Sprouls still form, dragging of tered the Patriot army. He beit toward the dining room. ed Next he began a new series ? Mif came adjutant of a Connecticut nnintings but illness and poverty In a few minutes neighbors began clamoring at the door. They regiment stationed at Roxbury interfered with their completion crowded in and a lamp was lighted. John Sproul wasnt dead, but he his last years. was and from there had a distant view and saddened badly burned by the lightning, and his clothes were charred and of the battle of Bunker Hill on in 1831 lie arranged with When his smoking. Finally they pulled clothing from his body they found that to give that institu- the June 17. When Washington ar(trimil. Yale college lightning had played a curious trick. Photographed on his back was in unsold rived in Cambridge to take compaintings a silvery spot the exact shape of a tree. tion his The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. mand of the Continental army, for an annuity of $1,000 A doctor came, worked over him, and brought him back to conTrumbull learned that he wished to some of the leading French the remainder of his life, sciousness. He said he couldnt understand how he had lived now sixty years of age, found for through an accurate drawing of the enewhich ended on November 10, the shock, and he was fascinated by that tree imprinted on Johns painters and sculptors. the burning of the Capitol wasthat to He back. said it my's position. So at the risk of For some time Trumbull had but what Mrs. Sproul will never hed never give him the opportunity of brine18That is the Yale art gal-- . forget is that terrible night forget his life he crept close to British of storm and destruction. been planning to paint the most to a successful conclusion ing lines and made sketches which Service. one is today one of America's of the dreams of his important scene in the history of youth pleased Washington so much that the Revolution the Signing of greatest patriotic shrines. On its "Colo. Trumbull he appointed the young Connectins hangs such paintings as the Declaration of Independence. First Really Democratic Sunday Island the Legislature are with liblralitv of Bunker Hill, The cut Yankee his second in island is one of the isles There the home of its author, Sunday The Battle William IV was the fisst King rebuilding the public edifices ?he of General Montgomery at of the Kermadecs. and aided by that authors suggesnath will proceed in the same spirit They were the democratic king to occupy the really Brit- Trumbull next attracted the atThe Eattle of Tren-(qto n,,rbec." landfall of the who came ish throne. He was also the Maoris he made the first sketches tions, their decoration, wrote Jefferson first tention of General Gates and, of Battle The Princeton over of the picture. Returning to Lonthe Pacific to colonize Biitish sovereign who knew New sailing to James Monroe, when Gates went to Ticonderoga the small originals of the New Zealand, and don Trumbull arranged the comm Madisons secretary f have been and York state first at hand. they As a midshiprotuncabinet to assume command of the NorthTf known to the West ever since a man, intings which adorn the position so that he could add the so, his paintings should certs says London Answers Magain Washington. ern department, Trumbull went Capitol British of be their first object. da ship, the Lady Pembyn, zine, he was in that city towards the portraits of the signers as the opThey with along s his adjutant-genera- l Beneath the building lies the dust found them in 1788. They were a end of the American offered. John Adams monuments of the taste portunity tali & War of . colonel. In of 1778 rank who created them the he was just leaving his post as amport of call in 1791 of DEntrecas-treaux- , of the genius of our country, as well as and had a narrow esof John Yankee, Connecticut accompanied General Sullivan as bassador to the Court of St. James who named them after his cape from being kidnaped scenes which gave it its the by agents a volunteer on his expedition and his was the first Trumbullcaptain, Huon Kermadec. portrait ji Washington. Stirred by the Hestern Newspaper Union. 4 'Fathers whom the Hon. J. j al l, life-size- d forty-thre- now-famili- ar s A i nYrt NU aide-de-cam- p. a ! - |