''The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775'' is an

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

completed in 1786 by the American artist John Trumbull. It depicts American general Richard Montgomery at the Battle of Quebec during the invasion of Quebec. The painting is on view at the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. It is the second in Trumbull's series of national

historical painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

s on the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the first being ''

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 ''The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775'' refers to several oil paintings completed in the late 18th and early 19th century by the American artist John Trumbull depicting the death of Founding Father Joseph ...

''.

History

Self Portrait by John Trumbull circa 1802

Trumbull went to London in 1784 to study painting with

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

, historical painter to

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. West, himself famous for such paintings as ''

The Death of General Wolfe ''The Death of General Wolfe'' is a 1770 painting by Anglo-American artist Benjamin West, commemorating the 1759 Battle of Quebec, where General James Wolfe died at the moment of victory. The painting, containing vivid suggestions of martyrdom, ...

'', suggested that Trumbull paint great events of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. 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 Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

, 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 A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

''.

Description

General Richard Montgomery is shown in full military uniform, illuminated in the middle of the painting, having been fatally wounded by

grapeshot Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat. In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...

and supported by

Matthias Ogden Matthias Ogden (October 22, 1754 – March 31, 1791) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolutionary War, and served in various political positions afterwards. Family Matthias Ogden was a son of Robert 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 A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Eur ...

. 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 Nancy G. Isenberg is an American historian, and T. Harry Williams Professor of history at Louisiana State University. Life She graduated from Rutgers University, and University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (o ...

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 Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1835:

Other versions

A large scale version ( x ) painted in 1834, is owned by the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

in Hartford, Connecticut.

Johan Frederik Clemens Johan Frederik Clemens (29 November 1749 – 5 November 1831) was a Pomeranian- Danish printmaker in etching. Early life and education Clemens was born in Gollnow (now Goleniów) near Stettin (now Szczecin) in Pomerania, to a poor Saxon weaver, J ...

engraved a version, ''The Death of General Montgomery, In the Attack of Quebec, December 1775'', in 1798. engraved a version, ''The Death of General Montgomery at Quebec'', published in 1808, copied from a print by Clemens.

Critical reception

The composition of this work has been compared to West's ''

'', completed in 1770, that depicts the

Battle of the Plains of Abraham The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec (french: Bataille des Plaines d'Abraham, Première bataille de Québec), was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War to describe ...

, also at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, on September 13, 1759. Both show the death of heroic generals. The influence of two works by John Singleton Copley, '' The Death of the Earl of Chatham'' (1781) and '' The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781'' (1783), has also been noted.

Gallery

File:The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, Wadsworth 1844.2.jpg, ''The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775''
by John Trumbull, 1834,

File:Johan Frederik Clemens - The Death of General Montgomery, In the Attack of Quebec, December 1775 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Death of General Montgomery, In the Attack of Quebec, December 1775'',
by

, 1798, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston File:The Death of General Montgomery at Quebec - Christian Wilhelm Ketterlinus, LCCN 2003666949.jpg, ''The Death of General Montgomery at Quebec''
by W. Ketterlinus, 1808,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

File:Benjamin West 005.jpg, ''

''
by

, 1770,

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

File:John Singleton Copley 001.jpg, '' The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781''
by John Singleton Copley, 1783,

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

References

External links

* Owner:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec Paintings by John Trumbull Paintings about the American Revolution 1786 paintings Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery 1775 in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791) Paintings about death War paintings Native Americans in art Cultural depictions of American men Cultural depictions of military officers