Professor Gorman's Art History Lesson (Part 3 of 3)

Hey there folks,

This will be the last little lesson into the art history of the Capitol Rotunda and the works of John Trumbull today. Today we tackle a really interesting painting: George Washington Resigning His Military Commission.

For starters, Congress commissioned Trumbull to paint this scene about eighteen years after the event actually took place and reports were relatively sketchy as to what went on and who was actually there. Washington had just recently died so Trumbull really had no idea what the scene even looked like. Therefore, he improvised. Look below, you won't see too many famous faces. That's because Trumbull just painted random people. Most of them don't have any historical relevance and are simply put there to fill the space. One person who you may recognize is Thomas Jefferson. There is no proof that he was there for this. But as you remember from a few posts past, Trumbull and him became fast friends. Maybe Trumbull was looking to influence history slightly?

Speaking of filler, Trumbull ran into a similar problem while painting the spectators. Washington didn't have much of a family and again, a long time had passed. This is where he got creative. Look closely at the people around Washington. First look at the women off Washington's shoulder. These are Washington's step-daughter and step-grandaughter Eleanor and Martha. Trumbull--again needing bodies--decided to duplicate them throughout the scene through different ages and placements. Let me put into perspective:

Trumbull simply duplicated them around the painting, namely as little children and as ladies watching from the balcony.

Next, how many George Washington's are there in this painting? Seem obvious? It actually isn't. There's really 6 depictions of him. When it came to the men surrounding Washington, Trumbull had pretty simple inspiration. He portrayed Washington throughout the stages of his life. Take a look:

Red: we have Washington normally depicted on the day.

Purple: Washington, slightly younger, as a general of the Continental Army

Green: A noticeably younger and red-headed Washington as a Colonel during the French and Indian War

Yellow: An extremely young Washington, probably a depiction of what he would look like when he enlisted in the British Army

Orange: Washington the father, a depiction of an older Washington, in civilian clothes

Blue: Washington as chief magistrate, in the black robe and thought to be a type of elder statesman

Now by this time, Trumbull had become quite well-known for his works: The Signing of the Declaration of Independence et al. However, Congress also got wise to Trumbull's mini self-portraits within his work. Therefore, they gave him an ultimatum: either omit depicting himself into the painting or lose his contract with the government. This gave Trumbull a little dilemma. Should he paint himself in and risk losing the contract or acquiesce and risk losing credit.

So what did Trumbull do? He painted himself in, but with a catch...Can you spot him??

Trumbull dressed in drag! Here he is, fourth from the edge in the balcony next to Martha

Washington, disguised as a woman. Surprisingly, the Congress never found out until much later.

Well, that about does it for the semester. I hoped you enjoyed learning this useless knowledge as much as I have enjoyed dispensing it. Next time you hear from me, I'll tell you a little about my birthday celebration and some Stonehill happenings.

Class dismissed!

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!

Professor Gorman's Art History Lesson (Part 1)

Hey folks,

After seeing the congressman I interned for taking on Obama during last week's Health Care Summit and my overall pining for D.C., I've decided to reminisce a little and give my long-awaited lecture on some history of the art adorning the Capitol rotunda.

Around the rotunda are large oil paintings depicting different important events in the founding of our country. They are: the landing of Columbus, discovery of the Mississippi River, the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, the baptism of Pocahontas (she actually appears in the rotunda three times), the Declaration of Independence, the surrender of General Burgoyne, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and George Washington resigning his military commission.

Four of them: Burgoyne's surrender, Cornwallis' surrender, the Declaration of Independence, and Washington resigning his commission were painted by the famed John Trumbull. In these next few posts, I'm going to give some fun history on the paintings as well as explain the story behind them.

Now unfortunately for Trumbull, since he was commissioned to paint these for the federal government he was not allowed to sign them. However, Trumbull found ways around that...he would paint himself into the scene! He had a rule though: he was either be fourth from the edge or fourth from the American flag AND he was always looking away from the center of attention.

Let's start off easy...can you find Trumbull in "The Surrender of General Burgoyne"?

Did you see him?

There is he is! On the horse, looking away, fourth from the left!


Alright, that was a warm-up. Let's get to our first topic..."The Declaration of Independence!"

Do you see Trumbull in the photo? He is fourth from the left edge, looking away from the others.

Most people have probably seen this photo at some point, it is the most famous of the brood. It depicts Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman, et al. presenting the Declaration of Independence to the President of the Continental Congress John Hancock. First things first, let get some history out of the way...

...this picture is completely and utterly false. This never happened! There was no grand ceremony, no large signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was actually signed in secret, one by one, at secret locations. Think of it like trying to pass a note in middle school. Remember, the men who signed it were thought of as traitors, if the Brits got their mitts on this it would basically act as a list of the leaders of the revolution.

Which brings us to the Founding Fathers. Some of you history buffs out there may know that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams weren't too fond of each other. They both were intensely competitive and intensely jealous of one another. They would make penny bets on everything from who could quote longer passages from the Bible to who would become President first...they even made a bet on who would die first. This is where it gets eerie. They died on the same day...July 4th, 1826. Exactly 50 years to the day that they signed the Declaration of Independence! As Adams lay dying, thinking his nemesis would outlive him, said his last words, "Jefferson lives." Unbeknown to Adams, Jefferson had actually died earlier in the day.

Anyways, when Trumbull was painting this both were still alive and Jefferson offered the artist a place to stay while he finished the painting. They became fast friends and Jefferson reportedly asked Trumbull a favor while he painted: made him look better than Adams. Trumbull acquiesced and what we have is two very distinct figures. Take a look...

Look at the contrasts! Jefferson is portrayed tall and regal, standing straight. He is a wearing a bright orange vest with a navy overcoat. He is also standing in the position of power, with both hands on the document.


Take a look at Adams on the far left, he is pudgy and ashed-faced. He is wearing drab clothing and is standing off to the side, hand on his hip--almost an afterthought.


But he's the kicker (no pun intended). Look at their feet...





Jefferson's right foot is clearly stepping on Adams--a sign of dominance. There's no mistaking who Trumbull wanted to portray as the most powerful man in the painting. Sometime I guess it makes sense to make friends with those depicting you...


Anyways, this is the first in a three part series over the next week or so on the rotunda art history and the little tidbits in the painting of John Trumbull. That's it for this week, guys.


Class dismissed!

Winter Snow and American Heroes

Hey there folks,

Sorry for the delay between posts. My computer has been on the fritz lately and I've been without one for about 2 weeks now. It's actually kinda nice; being in DC I really got addicted to checking my email constantly and fussing with my iPhone. This gives me a nice respite.

Anyways, the semester has gone quickly here at The Hill. Last Wednesday, the school closed down for a snow day. Unfortunately, I don't have any classes on Wednesdays, so it didn't matter to me. The Summit still had layout however, so I crashed a piece together talking about the snow and it's impact on campus. Layouts nights are pretty fun. Its the time when the entire editorial staff actually assembles the paper. They usually start early in the afternoon and usually go until the wee hours of the morning. In a few weeks, I'll take you inside of a layout night to show you what they're all about. Meanwhile, here are my friends Corinna and Rachel outside of Dunster...

Friday night was a special night in Dunster (our house in the Junior courts). We decided to celebrate the opening ceremonies the only way we knew how...with an America Celebration. Here's the thing: you HAD to come dressed as an American hero. Who did I come as? Well, see if you can guess...

If all you student's of history guessed our 26th President, you guessed right! I was Teddy Roosevelt. Conor, Nate, and me went to the Salvation Army shop on Friday afternoon. I got a old tie for 99 cents, while Conor got a jean jacket. Nate came as Johnny Appleseed and Conor went as Bruce Springsteen circa 1984. Brian and Eamon dressed as the famed explorer duo Lewis and Clark. My roommate Tommy came as none other than...me! haha! Next thing I knew, he burst into my room wearing my student ambassador name tag and JCrew sweater, carrying snacks by the armful!

We all had a great time! It was certainly a night to remember. A favorite moment for us was when we decided to take these costumes out in public by going to The Hill for a bite to eat! We forgot that there was a Valentine's dance going on that night, so among the sweaty dance patrons was none other than a man wearing a mustache and monocle ordering chicken tenders. That has since become our rule for all costumes: it is not official until you go in public with it! We had so much fun with it, we're thinking of doing a similar thing sometime in the future!

Anyways, I'm actually "borrowing" the Summit's computer to write this now. So I think I gotta head out, but take care and I should get back up to posting more regularly in about a week or so...

Take care!

Annnnddddd We're Back!

Hey there folks,

Very happy to say that I am BACK at Stonehill! It's been over a week since I've moved back and I feel like I never left. My junior year officially started two Sundays ago when I moved into my new room with my new roommate Tommy. Tommy, like me, is a fellow "Poli Sci guy" and I've know him since freshman year.

I also live across the hall from my friends Ray and Steve (he visited me in DC last fall), as well as Brian and Eamon. We've had a heck of a time so far! We've basically started playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for Playstation 3 and watching episodes of Mad Men like its our job. (In fact, the amount we do that, it's increasingly likely that those will be our only prospects. Just kidding, Mom... ;) Other than that, it's been great seeing everyone that haven't seen in so long! Even some friends, like Tom (in the middle), were able to stop by campus before they left to go abroad. We also made sure to set aside some time to watch the last episode of Conan! (TEAM COCO!)

As soon as I got back it seems that we got right back to work. Classes have been going, slowly but surely. I'm trying to get a lot of General Education classes out of the way, so I'm taking courses on Astronomy, Economics, and Morality. For my Journalism minor, I'm taking a course in Narrative Writing. It is really unique; unlike any class I've taken here before-all about writing "magazine-type" pieces using lots of detail and description. Also, one of the coolest classes I'm taking this semester is War with Professor Finnegan. Our first two classes involved watching the opening scene of Gladiator and dissecting the battle strategy! (Awesome!)

I'm also up and running with my work as News Editor of the Stonehill newspaper The Summit, Conor and I are working on our radio show with the Love Doctor, and tomorrow I start an internship in the Admissions Office.

This weekend though, we really kicked things into gear: Saturday night was our Whiteout Ball. That night, Eamon and I grabbed some dinner at Bertucci's and braved the cold on the walk back to get ourselves ready. The attire for the ball was semi-formal (basically the closest thing Stonehill has to prom). My experience in DC made me the designated "tie-tyer" when guys came to me with perplexed looks and ties as long as a leash. Before you knew it however, the guys were emerging from their rooms wearing dress shirts and cuff-links-a true rarity.

We soon were all together and decided to get in the mood for the night with some music by meeting up with some friends. The room fell silent when Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" came on. Instantly, we all formed a circle and began belting it out at the top of our lungs. (Nails on a chalkboard...)

Once we got to the dance, it was unanimous that we all had an amazing time. Being on campus again and living with some different people gave us the opportunity to meet some new people and made the night that much more fun.

The next day, we all slept in and made our way drowsily over to brunch. For us, half the fun is sitting at brunch for a few hours talking about the night before. After we pulled ourselves from our seats and stuffed our faces with waffles and cinnamon buns, we retreated to my room to watch the Jets game. Though we go to school in Massachusetts, we have a small, yet dedicated band of Jets fans here. Though they lost, we still we pretty shocked that they made it this far...I mean they BARELY made the playoffs.

Geeze, I guess that's a lot. Anyways, I'm kinda tired and there is another Mad Men episode on....hmmmm....

Take care!

New Year: New York, New Jersey

Hey there folks,

Happy New Year! I'm in a great mood! Come Sunday, I will be a) back at Stonehill for the first time in awhile and b) I will be watching my Jets take on the Chargers. It has been a great year for my sports teams with the Yankees winning the World Series and the Jets making a miracle run!

But before we get back into the swing of things, I wanted to bring you all up to date on what I've been doing in the first weeks of the new year.

First, my friend Brian came up on his way to Vermont to say hello. We roomed together at Stonehill during the summer and I had not seen him since then. He only had about an hour, so we went to a local pizzeria and told stories about our semester.

Later in the week, I made a pilgrimage to the lovely Garden State to see Conor and Eamon. Though I hadn't seen Conor in a few months, it was like we hadn't left! I was pretty hungry from my drive, so we picked our friends Jim and Po and we stopped at one of the many great diners in Jersey for a quick bite. I had a favorite of mine: a pulled pork sandwich. Sooo good.

That night, Eamon and our friend John (aka The Colonel) came over. I really wish that I could describe in detail all the incredible things that we did and show you pictures of the all the places we went to...but I can't. We really didn't do much of anything, actually. The four of us just basically sat around and swapped stories and reminisced about funny things that happened to us. It is a weird feeling coming back; my time in Washington feels like it's own entity, a time apart from the rest of reality. My friends and I just basically pick up from where we left off; you'd never know we had been apart. It seems like I feel asleep on a sweltering August night at Stonehill and woke up the next day in my house on a cold December day.

Come to think of it, we did do one thing of note: we made a Love Doctor video! What is a Love Doctor video, you ask? Well, Conor and I have a radio show the last two years on Stonehill's radio station. One night, we asked Eamon to come on and as a joke, we decided to portray him as a "Ph.D. in Aphrodisiology". Every now and then, people would call in or email him with questions and it just kept growing--more calls, more emails, more listeners etc. So we started promoted him by giving away faux business cards and making videos for YouTube plugging his appearances. (You can see the collection of them on the links to your right...)

While I was down in Jersey, we took the liberty to make yet another video, which you can view on this post. Stay tuned for more updates regarding "The Love Doctor" appearances throughout the semester.

Yesterday-because I'm apparently trying to make up for lost time-I met Conor in New York City for the day. We covered some pretty good ground during the course of the day. I took the train in from Connecticut and we met at Bryant Park. From there, we walked uptown to Rockefeller Center (a favorite spot in the City for me) because Conor wanted to see the famed Christmas tree. Apparently, he had forgotten that it was currently mid-January and the tree had been taken down but we did get a kick out of watching the poor people attempt to skate on the ice rink! (Shoulda brought popcorn!)

From there we went to Times Square and ate at a great deli for long while. I tested Conor's patience by insisting that we go to the Yankees Store, so I could grab some championship gear. After getting warm in a Barnes and Noble awhile and buying some Jets stuff at Modell's, we stopped into Burger Heaven for some dinner. Before I left however, we stopped in Grand Central Station for some tea to warm up.

(What do you think it says about me that I describe my time by the foods I ate?) Hmm....

Anyways, that'll do it for me. The next time you hear from me, I'll once again be a full-time Stonehill student. Get ready Stonehill, I'm comin'...

Take care!

Home for the Holidays

Hey folks,

Currently watching my Jets take on the Bengals and I figured I'd update you on what I've been doing since I've been on break.

Ever since I got home it was hit the ground running in preparation for Christmas. My first night back was spent baking with my Mom. We have Christmas Eve over our house every year, which we've been doing ever since my Mom was a kid. Our whole family comes over for a traditional Slovak meal. Part of the preparation involves an awful lot of baking. That night, we made a sweet bread filled with either poppyseed, nuts, or prunes called Kolach (cole-lah-chi).

Since my Mom is usually doing other things, the past two years I've taken to making it by myself. It's sometimes hard to read my Grandma's old cursive writing but they came out great this year!

The next day my family and I took a trip up to Boston. The last few years we've gotten tickets to see the Boston Pops Holiday Show and this year we decided to make a day of it! We started our day at Fanueil Hall and had some coffee at Cheers. It was really cold!

We then grabbed a ride to Symphony Hall. We had great seats and really enjoyed the show. We were pretty hungry afterwards and went to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for a great dinner. I'm a big steak guy , so it was heaven.

Sure enough, it was soon Christmas Eve, which always guarantees to be a busy day. My Dad and I woke up early, to do some last-minute shopping and grab a slice of pizza. This has long been a tradition in our family: it gives my Dad and I a chance to finish shopping and it gives my Mom a chance to get her work done without us getting in her way!

We finished up our shopping and got home in time to get ready for our family, which arrived around 3pm. Christmas Eve is a really big holiday in our family, this year was no different with 14 people coming over. We started off with some appetizers, but soon came our traditional Slovak supper.

We start the meal with oplatki-a type of thin wafer which we dip in honey. This was used instead of communion in the old country, when people were snowed in and couldn't make it to church. Next is bobalki-balls of sweet dough served in warm milk. This symbolizes all the good throughout the last year. After bobalki is kapustnica, which is a bitter soup made with sauerkraut and noodles that symbolizes the difficulties of the year. Next are pierogies filled with either potatoes or prune, a family favorite. Our last course is shrimp with rice. The idea is a very simple meal-one that has been in our family for generations.

After dinner, we all mingled and opened presents. We had alot of my cousins around and it was pretty rowdy! We were all laughing and having a great time! It was also a chance for me to see my cousin Ed and fiancee Ashley and thank them again for their hospitality while in DC! My cousin Jessica came again this year and I got the chance to see her again. While for Chris--my cousin Elise's boyfriend--it was his first chance to get a taste of our family's Christmas celebration.

We were all pretty tired and we went to bed early. But dawn broke and--in what would have been unthinkable ten years ago--my parents woke me up! I made my way up the stairs and opened my gifts! I got some great stuff this year: from some great political books, Yankees gear, and a car adapter for my iPhone!

After a nice breakfast, we piled into the car and drove to Hingham, Mass. to my cousin Steph's house. It was nice to see some other family that couldn't make it to our house Christmas Eve. I also had the chance to see my cousins Jackson and Chase. We had a great meal and opened up some more presents. The weather was a little iffy and we headed back home early. As we pulled in the driveway, I could not believe that Christmas was over! But at least I still had some time at home to enjoy before heading back to the Hill

.