Commentary: Previously we published Frederick C. “Rick” Detwiller’s assertion, accompanied by compelling circumstantial evidence, that controversial Patriot James Swan (1751-1830) is depicted as the heroic protector of the mortally wounded Dr. Joseph Warren in the central vignette of John Trumbull’s iconic historical painting Bunker’s Hill. The painting begs understanding on several levels, as it was, […]
John Trumbull
Commentary: In the previous entry, I expounded on Mr. Frederic C “Rick” Detwiller’s assertion that controversial patriot James Swan appears as a key, and heretofore unidentified, figure in John Trumbull’s iconic painting Bunker’s Hill. The shirtless and shoe-less blonde young man in the painting bravely wards off an aggressive bayonet thrust by a menacing British […]
Commentary: Recently Frederic C. “Rick” Detwiller called to my attention to his belief that James Swan (1754-1830) may well be a key, and heretofore unrecognized figure depicted in John Trumbull’s iconic painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill. In the central vignette of Trumbull’s painting a supine Joseph Warren stares upward at the moment of […]
Source: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. (left) Major General Joseph Warren study for Bunker Hill, not dated [1785], by John Trumbull (1756-1843), accession #1952.3.1b. The sketch has never been published or displayed publicly. (right) Death of Major General Joseph Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, June 17, 1775 [1785-86] also by John […]
Source: Yale University Art Gallery, Study for Death of General Joseph Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, by John Trumbull, September 1785, catalog 1993.79.1. In: Peter Hawes, A Great Panorama Celebrating Twenty-five Years of American Art at Yale, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1998), 52, ill. It has not […]
Source: Yale University Art Gallery, Study for Death of General Joseph Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, by John Trumbull, 1785-1786. Catalog 2005.7.1. It has never been publicly displayed. Commentary: John Trumbull (1756-1843) was an American painter who devoted his career to historical genre paintings and portraits depicting American Revolutionary era events and […]
