Giuseppe Ceracchi

The work titled Giuseppe Ceracchi is an oil portrait on wood painted by John Trumbull in 1792. It represents the Italian entrepreneur Giuseppe Ceracchi and was created as a standalone portrait rather than part of a larger commission. Following its execution, the painting entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been catalogued within the American Wing’s portrait genre.

The museum’s records list the work’s inception date as 1792 and note its dimensions, confirming its status as a distinct artwork that has remained in the Met’s custody since acquisition.

The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is listed under the classification “The American Wing” and described as a portrait of Giuseppe Ceracchi. No accession or inventory number is provided in the available documentation. Likewise, the work’s exhibition record is not detailed in the cited sources, indicating that it has not been featured in published exhibitions according to the current data.

John Trumbull, an American artist and veteran of the Revolutionary War, painted this oil on wood portrait of Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi around 1792. The work exemplifies Trumbull's neoclassical approach to portraiture, presenting Ceracchi with a refined and dignified demeanor. It captures a moment between two artists, one American and one Italian, both engaged with the nascent American republic through their respective crafts.

Giuseppe Ceracchi, an Italian sculptor, traveled to America with the intention of creating monumental works depicting the heroes of the Revolution. This portrait by Trumbull, completed just before Ceracchi's return to Europe, captures the sculptor's direct gaze. The image conveys a sense of immediacy, reflecting a brief encounter and professional connection between two artists from different continents, both contributing to the visual culture of the young nation.

John Trumbull, a former military officer, would later become renowned for his large-scale historical paintings commemorating the American Revolution. This portrait of Ceracchi, created during a period when both artists were active in the United States, offers insight into the artistic exchanges of the time. Ceracchi's presence in America underscored the desire for classical artistic representation of the new republic's foundational figures, a goal shared by Trumbull.