Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from John Trumbull, 24 October 1791

From John Trumbull

Phila Oct 24th 1791

Dear Sir

I had not forgotten my promise, tho’ it was made so long since. The first days of liesure which I enjoyed among my friends in Connecticut, were devotd to render this little picture more worthy of your acceptance than it was when you saw it.—I wish it were now a more valuable testimony than it is of the Gratitude and Esteem of D sir Your obliged friend & Servant,

Jno. Trumbull

RC in Collection of Jonathan T. Isham, Newport, R.I., 1975 (Tr by Irma B. Jaffe, Fordham University); endorsed by TJ as received 24 Oct. 1791 and so recorded in SJL. The little picture was what TJ called the “premiere ébauche” of Trumbull’s sketch of “The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown” (Irma B. Jaffe, John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist of the American Revolution [Boston, 1975], p. 319; and TJ’s Catalogue of Paintings at Monticello, ViU).

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