John Trumbull painted the famous 1819 scene of delegates presenting the Declaration of Independence.
The painting, commonly called Declaration of Independence, depicts the Committee of Five presenting its draft to the Second Continental Congress. Trumbull began working on the composition after the Revolutionary War and completed the version associated with the United States Capitol in 1819.
The scene is often mistaken for a literal record of the signing. It is an artistic representation, and the room contains 48 figures even though not every person shown signed the document. Some delegates were absent or signed later, so the image should not be read as a precise snapshot of one moment.
The painting became especially familiar because it appears on the reverse of the two-dollar bill. Its connection with the Declaration makes it a natural visual symbol for the 250th anniversary, even though it was created more than four decades after 1776.