TRUMBULL AND JOHN ADAMS.

TRUMBULL AND JOHN ADAMS. Annalisa is a huge fan of John Adams, currently reading and recommending Lynne Withey’s biography of Abigail Adams. Last weekend, the Wall Street Journal had an article by David McCullough, whose biography of John Adams Annalisa and I both loved. The article was about John Trumbull’s painting in the Rotunda of the Capitol of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence. Many of the things in the article (and, as well, many moving details about the Revolutionary War) are here and a reproduction of the Trumbull painting is here. McCullough pointed out that Trumbull made enormous efforts to paint the signers from life; he sketched or painted from life 36 of them. I showed Annalisa the article and the picture and she said immediately, before reading the article, “Oh, good, John Adams is right in the middle.” And she made a criss-cross motion on the picture with her finger. And, in fact, McCullough in the article points out that if you draw diagonal lines connecting the corners, they cross on the figure of John Adams.