Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist 1801

John Trumbull painted this Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist using oil on canvas. Although the subject is religious, Trumbull’s materiality aligns more with a rising sense of American nationalism, away from Italian Renaissance art. He would have chosen his canvas and prepared it himself, grounding and priming its surface to accept the paint. The oil paints themselves would have been ground by hand, using pigments sourced from minerals, plants, or even insects. This process, requiring time and expertise, was crucial to achieving the right consistency and hue. Trumbull’s skilled brushwork creates a sense of depth and texture, while also calling attention to the very qualities of paint, which becomes a subject in its own right. The labour of artistic creation becomes apparent, emphasizing the hand of the artist and elevating the ordinary into the realm of the sacred. Through his careful attention to process and material, Trumbull's "Madonna and Child" blurs the lines between craft and fine art, imbuing the work with both religious and cultural significance.