When Capitol tour guides lead their groups through the Rotunda, they often stop at the Declaration of Independence painting to point out Thomas Jefferson’s right foot. They say it looks like he’s stepping on John Adams’ foot, an action symbolizing the pair’s contentious relationship as political enemies.
But Architect of the Capitol Curator Barbara Wolanin begs to differ. During a walk through the Rotunda on Monday, the former art history professor interrupted a tour leader to correct him after overhearing his inaccurate description.
{mosads}The former presidents’ feet are not touching, she said, adding that it’s not something people should point out on the tours.
“I think it just looks that way,” Wolanin later explained. She said the painting’s many restorations, cleanings and touch-ups throughout the 19th and 20th centuries might have contributed to that effect. But there is no evidence that was the painter’s intentions, Wolanin said.
The artwork’s history dates back to 1817, when Congress commissioned John Trumbull to paint a depiction of the Declaration of Independence’s drafting (not to be confused with famous scenes of its signing). His 12-by-18-foot oil-on-canvas painting, therefore, recreates the event that took place in the Pennsylvania State House — now Independence Hall — in Philadelphia on June 28, 1776.
Located between the statues of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton and next to the doorway that leads to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office, the painting is mounted beneath a pine frame gilded with gold leaf.
A second myth about this painting has circulated. Legend has it Trumbull was prevented from signing this piece of artwork. As an act of rebellion, he decided to paint himself as one of the 47 people in the scene, according to the tale.
To this day, guides identify him as the person on the outside edge of the painting, facing in the opposite direction of the focal character.
Rejecting that statement, Wolanin said there is no self-portrait in his painting. Instead, the painting’s key labels the disputed character as George Read of Delaware.
“[Read’s] head was turned that way because Trumbull found the portrait of him that way,” she said, adding that she also has no evidence that anyone forbade him from signing the painting.
Trumbull modeled the painting’ s 47 figures — 42 of the 56 signers and five other patriots — from life or life portraits. The artist didn’t include the signers and other involved characters for whom he couldn’t find evidence of their appearance, Wolanin said, pointing out that Trumbull did his work during the pre-photography era.
Some of the painting’s architectural features, such as the furniture, windows and draperies, are based on an inaccurate sketch Jefferson produced from memory while in Paris and therefore differ from historical fact, she said.
“The thing about these paintings is they are not a historical snapshot,” Wolanin said. “They’re a representation of an event.”
Viewers might recognize Trumbull’s scene from somewhere else. It appears on the back side of a $2 bill.
The Declaration of Independence painting was installed in the Rotunda in 1826. Sometime thereafter, Trumbull discovered a portrait of another signer but could only add it to his original, much smaller painting.
“That just shows how determined he was to record history,” Wolanin said.