Quebec - Canadá
Yale University Art Gallery New Haven Estados Unidos
OST - 62x93 - 1786
The Death of
General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775 is an oil painting completed in 1786 by the American
artist John Trumbull depicting the death of
the American general Richard Montgomery at
the Battle of Quebec on
December 31, 1775, during the invasion of Quebec, a
major military operation by the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. The
painting is on view at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. It
is the second in Trumbull's series of national historical paintings on
the war, the first being The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775.
Trumbull went
to London in 1784 to study painting with Benjamin West, historical painter to King George III. West, himself famous for such paintings
as The Death of General Wolfe,
suggested that Trumbull paint great events of the American Revolution. The first was The Death of General
Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775, started in the fall of
1785 and finished early in 1786. The second was this painting, which was
finished in June 1786. Both were painted in West's London studio.
In July 1786, Trumbull traveled to Paris and
stayed at the Hôtel de Langeac at
the invitation of Thomas Jefferson, who was
then the American minister to France.
Jefferson gave "his warm approbation" to these two works and assisted
Trumbull with the early composition of the Declaration of
Independence.
General
Richard Montgomery is shown in full military uniform, illuminated in the middle
of the painting, having been fatally wounded by grapeshot and supported by Matthias Ogden. In front of them are two of Montgomery's aides-de-camp, Captains Jacob Cheeseman and John MacPherson,
both dead, lying in the snow, near a broken cannon. Behind Montgomery and Ogden
are Lieutenant Samuel Cooper and Lieutenant Colonel Donald Campbell. To the
left are Lieutenant John Humphries and Oneida chief Joseph Louis Cook (also known as "Colonel Joseph
Louis"), shown with raised tomahawk. Major Return Jonathan Meigs with
Captains Samuel Ward and
William Hendricks are in the left foreground shown in shock at Montgomery's
death. On the far right is Colonel William Thompson of
the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment.
Art historian
Paul Staiti notes that Ogden was with Benedict Arnold attacking a different part of the city
during the battle and that Aaron Burr, Montgomery's aide-de-camp, should have been
depicted instead. Historian Nancy Isenberg notes evidence that Burr had attempted to
retrieve the general's body, but also notes doubts about its accuracy.
Trumbull
described the scene in the catalogue for his exhibited works at Yale University in 1835:
Grief and
surprise mark the countenances of the various characters. The earth covered
with snow,–trees stripped of their foliage,–the desolation of winter, and the
gloom of night, heighten the melancholy character of the scene.
— John Trumbull
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