John Trumbull to Thomas Jefferson, 1 October 1823
From John Trumbull
New York 1st Octo 1823.
Dear Sir
I have omitted to reply to your most welcome & kind Letter of the 15th of July, until I could announce the Completion of my print of the Declaration of Independence;—I have now the pleasure to say that not only the Engraving has been finished with great beauty, but that the printing has also been executed with uncommon Success.
The Sloop Virginia which sails tomorrow for Richmond, will convey to your correspondent there Colo Bernard Peyton, your two prints framed & Glazed in the Style which you directed—Black with gold edges:—I hope they will come to you safe, & meet your approbation.
It is delightful to me, that after the lapse of so many years, this work which I meditated, & which you assisted me to arrange, at Chaillot in 1786, is at last completed.—rarely does it occur that two Individuals, advanced as we then were on the Road of Life, remain to see the completion of a favorite project at the end of 37 Years.
The Event was great in its consequences beyond all others in human history.—the actors in it were men who not only by that act, but by the consistent & undeviating patriotism of their subsequent conduct, deserve to live in the grateful memory of mankind to the end of time;—and I thank God that I have possessed (to use the language of Dr S Johnson’s beautiful prayer) “Calmness of mind & steadiness of purpose,” to complete this memorial of such men, and of such an act:—and may I not my dear Sir without excessive vanity say with Horace “Monumentum exegi, Ære perennius”—will not my name live, under the Shadow of their Glory.
I thank you for the cordial welcome which you are so good as to offer me at Monticello,—and anticipate with impatience the pleasure of seeing you and your daughter in your own house,—and of presenting to your & her acquaintance my Wife, who joins me heartily in every kind & respectful wish for your & her happiness.
I shall be highly gratified in viewing with you the Buildings of your University, which form another striking Evidence not merely of your Taste in architecture, but of your untiring Zeal in the advancement of knowledge, and the best Interests of our Country, & of posterity
With great Respect and affection
Jno Trumbull
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson, Esqr”; endorsed by TJ as received 9 Oct. 1823 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: invoice from Trumbull, dated New York, 1 Oct. 1823, for two copies of his print of the Declaration of Independence, wherein he charged TJ $40 for the two prints “With keys & description,” $24 “for frames & Glasses” supplied by “Parker & Clover,” and $1.25 for a “Packing Case,” for a total of $65.25 “Errors Excepted”; and requested TJ “to remit to me the above Sum, at your own Convenience, or let it remain, until I have the honor of Seeing you” (MS in DLC; in Trumbull’s hand; with notation by TJ at foot of text: “Feb. 24. desired B. Peyton to remit it”).
During the 1780s TJ lived in Paris next to one of the city gates, La Grille de chaillot (Howard C. Rice Jr., Thomas Jefferson’s Paris [1976], 51). The phrase calmness of mind & steadiness of purpose appears in Samuel Johnson’s prayer of 25 July 1776 (James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. [London, 1791], 2:96). monumentum exegi, ære perennius: “I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze” (Horace, Odes, 3.30.1, in Horace: Odes and Epodes, trans. Niall Rudd, Loeb Classical Library [2004], 216–7). TJ’s surviving daughter was Martha Jefferson Randolph.
Index Entries
- boats; carriage to and from Richmond search
- Declaration of Independence; J. Trumbull on search
- Declaration of Independence; J. Trumbull’s painting of presentation of search
- Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus); quoted by J. Trumbull search
- Johnson, Samuel; quoted by J. Trumbull search
- paintings; by J. Trumbull search
- Paris; La Grille de Chaillot search
- Parker & Clover (New York firm) search
- Peyton, Bernard; and goods for TJ search
- Peyton, Bernard; payments made for TJ search
- prints; sent to TJ search
- Randolph, Martha Jefferson (Patsy; TJ’s daughter; Thomas Mann Randolph’s wife); hosts guests at Monticello search
- Richmond, Va.; boat carriage to and from search
- The Declaration of Independence (J. Trumbull) search
- Trumbull, John (artist); and University of Virginia search
- Trumbull, John (artist); hopes to visit Monticello search
- Trumbull, John (artist); letters from search
- Trumbull, John (artist); on Declaration of Independence search
- Trumbull, John (artist); The Declaration of Independence search
- Trumbull, Sarah Hope Harvey (John Trumbull’s wife) search
- Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; visitors to search
- Virginia (sloop) search