To George Washington from John Trumbull, 3 October 1795
From John Trumbull
London 3d Octr 1795.
Sir
By the Ship Factor bound to Philadelphia I send a Box addressed to your Excellency, containing Two Prints, which I beg you will do me the Honour to Accept.
The Plate of the Death of Montgomery is at length compleat, and the impression which I now send is, (excepting the inferiority of the Paper,) such as will be delivered to my friends in America; that of the Death of Warren is promised to be finished by the first of January next; & the impression now sent is the State of the Plate last winter. The printing will require some months, so that I shall not be able to fulfil my promise to subscribers sooner than in the Course of next summer.1
I should not trouble your Excellency with trifles of this kind, did I not feel that an Apology is due from me to all those who were the early Patrons of an undertaking, which has been tediously but inevitably delayed.
a Plate is nearly compleated from the large Portrait of yourself which you permitted me to Possess.2
I beg leave to offer my best respects to Mrs Washington and Mis. Custis. And am with every sentiment of Respectful Gratitude Your most obedient and Obliged servant
Jno: Trumbull
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. In 1790 Trumbull proposed to issue by subscription prints of his paintings of The Death of Gen. Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, 17 June 1775 and The Death of Gen. Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, 31 December 1775. Having obtained subscriptions from GW and a number of other individuals at New York in April, he began placing newspaper advertisements in May, promising delivery “as soon as the work (which is already considerably advanced) can possibly be completed” ( 164; Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser [Philadelphia], 10 May 1790). However, GW did not receive the completed prints until 1798.
2. GW sat for Trumbull in 1790, and Trumbull completed his painting, George Washington at Trenton, in 1792. The engraved reproduction of that painting, by Thomas Cheesman of London, was published in 1796.