The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was engrossed on parchment, and on August 2, 1776, delegates began signing it. Our reproduction print shows that scene as imagined by renowned painter John Trumbull. Printed on acid-free paper, this matted print is ready to be framed.

John Trumbull (1756–1843), artist and diplomat, was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, and graduated from Harvard College (later Harvard University) in 1773. During the American Revolution, he served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington in 1775 and as deputy adjutant general of the Continental Army’s Northern Department from 1776 to 1777. On February 6, 1817, Congress commissioned Trumbull to produce “four paintings commemorative of the most important events of the American Revolution.” In 1824, he completed the twelve-by-eighteen-foot artworks: The Declaration of Independence, The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, and The Resignation of General Washington.

In 1933, the chief architect of the National Archives, J. Russell Pope, recommended approval of a two-year contract to hire Barry Faulkner, a noted American muralist, to paint a mural for the Exhibit Hall in the planned Rotunda of the National Archives Building. The result was two large oil-on-canvas murals, each about 14 feet by 37 1/2 feet. One mural honors the signers of the Declaration and the other those who signed the Constitution.