The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Medium
Engraving; sixth state of six
Dimensions
image: 20 3/16 x 30 3/16 in. (51.3 x 76.7 cm) sheet: 23 7/8 x 32 in. (60.6 x 81.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924
Accession Number
24.90.1514
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776*, a masterful 1823 engraving by Asher B. Durand after John Trumbull's iconic painting. This sixth and final state captures the dramatic moment when America's Founding Fathers—figures like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin—present the Declaration to the Continental Congress. Trumbull, a Revolutionary War veteran and neoclassical painter, to immortalize this pivotal event, while Durand, a skilled engraver and later Hudson River School leader, translated it into intricate print form for wider audiences. Engravings like this ...
About the Artist
Asher Brown Durand|John Trumbull · 1796–1886
Was a principal member of the Hudson River School. American artist; associated with the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Comment on works: Portraits