The Declaration of Independence lithograph by Napoleaon Sarony after John Trumbull

This hand-colored lithograph, titled The Declaration of Independence, depicts an interior scene of the assembly Room at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, the committee who drafted the document are standing in front of John Hancock, the chairman, who is seated on a red fabric upholstered armchair at a table in the viewer’s left foreground. 42 of the 56 composers, signers, and a few members of Congress who took part in the debates but did not sign, are depicted in this print image including John Dickinson, depicted by a door in a hat. The original Trumbull paintings and this Sarony print, all titled The Declaration of Independence, provide the date July 4th, 1776, under the title, which is why these images have been presumed by many to be a depiction of the famous document’s “signing” but that is incorrect. This image shows the drafting committee presenting their draft to the 2nd Continental Congress, which took place on June 28th, 1776, and not the signing which mostly occurred between July 2 and August 2.

Trumbull created his work by interviewing Thomas Jefferson in Paris, then John Adams, and finally as many of the delegates as he could-36 of the 42 portraits were produced from life but he added 2 from memory and 9 by “picture done by others” to preserve their likenesses for history, and deleted one from the final version. He refused to include images of delegates he could not sketch from life or from a faithful likeness, so some were excluded and some delegates who were not present on that day were still included in the painting. He did produce a “Guide to the portraits in the Declaration of Independence” with a key identifying 47 participants, their colony, and who was a delegate that did not sign and included at the bottom a list of those not included in the image. Note that the painting key identifies 47 portraits but the lithographic print only includes 42.

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Trumbull worked on the image for more than three decades and producing sketches and three versions. The earliest version is a small painting begun in 1786 acquired by Yale for their art gallery in 1832. Trumbull created the painting for the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in 1817-1818. In both these versions, Trumbull was inaccurate about some of the Assembly Room’s architectural elements such as the number and placement of doors and windows and created elaborate furnishings such as the coat of arms, the fancy furniture and window coverings. These were based on a sketch provided by Thomas Jefferson who appears to have had a faulty memory of the room’s actual features. This was corrected by the third version, painted in 1832, known as the Wadsworth version, no doubt in response to critics from Philadelphia.

Napolean Sarony created his lithograph by copying either the small Trumbull painting which he could have studied in New Haven, the US Capitol painting or the engraving by Asher B. Durand, which Trumbull commissioned for $3,000 and copyrighted in 1820. It was designed to reproduce the smaller painting which would eventually go to Yale but took 3 years to produce and publish. The engravings were sold by Trumbull through a subscription in late 1823 for the costly sum of $20 and only about 300 were produced but it is possible that Sarony was able to obtain one or partnered with Nathaniel Currier who also produced a reverse image lithograph before producing a version with the Trumbull painting orientation.

This lithograph is a mirror image or reverse presentation of the Trumbull paintings; note that Hancock is on the left in the print and depicted on the right in the original paintings. The mirror image or reverse presentation was common in early lithographs due to the production technique of creating the printing stone. This recognizable image was used in classrooms, public buildings and textbooks first through engravings and then more widely produced through as a popular and inexpensive lithograph beginning in the 1840’s by Sarony and Major and Currier and Ives. Sarony and Major published this lithograph but curiously the address of the firm under the image is that of the Park Hotel at Nassau and Beekman and not the firms known address of 99 Nassau Street.

Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896), the graphic artist and lithographer, was born in Quebec and trained under several New York lithography firms including Endicott Studio, Currier & Ives and Henry R. Robinson. Sarony was also known for his successful experiments in early photography, eventually developing a cabinet-sized camera. In 1846, Sarony collaborated with another former apprentice of Nathaniel Currier, Henry B. Major and created Sarony & Major Lithography firm. Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Sarony was also known for doing freelance work before he retired to travel and then became focused on photography. By the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards and posters. In 1930, Consolidated Graphics bought them out.

Currently not on view