Talking Trumbull
In 1780, John Trumbull arrived in London. He had left Connecticut for a business venture in France that failed. Now, fresh from that Parisian debacle, he meant to do what he had wanted since childhood: become an artist. A veteran of the rebellion still raging between the Empire and its American colonies, Trumbull had the political connections, the money, and the brass to set about buttonholing another American, Benjamin West, court painter to King George III, to take him on as a student. At West’s studio, Trumbull explained that he had obtained permission from Britain’s secretary of state for America, Lord George Germain, to study in London as long as he stayed out of politics. Wanting to test his visitor’s skills, West asked Trumbull to pick a painting from among those at hand and reproduce it as a drawing. Trumbull chose another artist’s copy of Raphael’s Madonna della Seggiola and set to work freehand. His dreams hung in the balance.
in Lebanon, Connecticut. Father Jonathan, a prominent merchant, was Connecticut’s colonial governor. Mother Faith traced her New World roots to passengers John and Priscilla Alden. The Trumbulls were a
