Professor Gorman's Art History Lesson Part 2

Hey again folks,

Welcome back to class. We're in the middle of a three-part series on a little art history of John Trumbull's paintings in the Capitol Rotunda. Today we're going to look at "The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis."

Let's put to use what we learned on the last post and see if we can find our boy Trumbull?

Can you spot him this time?

There he is again! This time he is fourth from the flag and, as always, looking away from the center of attention.

Now let's look at the painting...

This painting depicts General Cornwallis and the British Army surrendering to George Washington and the Continental Army, thereby ending the war. Traditionally in battle, the defeated army would stand on even ground with the conquerors and hand-over their sword to them. Makes sense, right?

Except when the time came to surrender to the colonies, the leader of the British Army, General Cornwallis was nowhere to be found. It turns out he sent his deputy to do it for him and Washington was so disgusted by this lack of protocol that he sent his deputy on Washington's personal white horse to accept the sword. Washington then told him not to get off his horse. This way, the British would have to present it up to the Americans, signifying homage to a mightier power.

As you can see Washington looking on from the background...

Now something that struck me when I first saw the painting: who are those guys with the white flag? Naturally, I first thought that those were the British waving the flag of surrender, but actually those are the French! The white flag with a ribbon/scarf tied around it was flag of the French monarchy.

Alright, short post today but we'll end our semester with "George Washington Resigning his Commission."

Until next time, class dismissed!