John Trumbull painted the famous 1819 scene of the Declaration committee presenting its draft to Congress.
The oil painting is commonly called Declaration of Independence, although its scene is not the signing of the final parchment. It shows Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston presenting the draft to the Second Continental Congress.
Trumbull based the composition on his interest in depicting the American Revolution and consulted surviving participants and portraits. Because the painting includes only 42 figures, it does not show all 56 people who eventually signed the engrossed Declaration.
The work became one of the best-known visual representations of the founding era. A version hangs in the United States Capitol Rotunda, and its imagery has appeared widely on American currency and educational materials associated with the nation’s founding.