Congress commissioned John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence painting for the U.S. Capitol in 1817.
The commission came decades after the Declaration was approved in 1776. Trumbull had served in the Continental Army and later pursued a career as a historical painter. His project formed part of a broader effort to decorate the U.S. Capitol with scenes representing the nation's founding and revolutionary history.
Trumbull completed the large canvas over several years. It was installed in the Capitol Rotunda in 1826, the fiftieth anniversary year of the Declaration's approval. The painting shows the Committee of Five presenting a draft to Congress rather than the later signing ceremony, a distinction often missed in popular reproductions.
Because many participants had died or could not pose together, Trumbull based figures on portraits, sketches, and other references. The work became one of the most recognizable visual interpretations of American independence and helped define how later generations imagined the event.