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Gift of Pilgrim Hall Museum, 2019; original donor Walter Spooner, Esq., 1865, 1950.9.0, Connect…
Colonel Joseph Trumbull
Gift of Pilgrim Hall Museum, 2019; original donor Walter Spooner, Esq., 1865, 1950.9.0, Connecticut Historical Society, No known copyright

Colonel Joseph Trumbull

PainterAttributed to John Trumbull American, 1756 - 1843
SubjectPortrait of Hon. Joseph Trumbull American, 1737 - 1778
Dateabout 1778
MediumOil on canvas in frame
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x width): 51 1/2 × 40in. (130.8 × 101.6cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Pilgrim Hall Museum, 2019; original donor Walter Spooner, Esq., 1865
DescriptionPortrait of Joseph Trumbull painted by John Trumbull, in a style heavily influenced by John Singleton Copley's portrait of Joseph Hooper.

Joseph Trumbull is portrayed in middle age, and is seated in a chair at a small table. His left hand is resting on the back of the chair, and his right hand is tucked into his waistcoat. He is wearing a red coat, waistcoat, and breeches, and a white shirt with a ruffled white tie or other item of clothing, ruffled white cuffs, and white knee stockings. One of his shoes, with its gold-colored buckle, is just visible in the lower right. On the table there is a quill pen sitting in an inkwell, and a folded up piece of paper with writing on it.
Object number1950.9.0
NotesNote from object file: Portrait, attributed to John Trumbull, was painted posthumously. John Trumbull painted two portraits of his brother Joseph, both of them based on a portrait of Joseph Hooper of Marblehead, Massachusetts, by John Singleton Copley, which suggests that Trumbull's portraits may have been executed in Boston.
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