(upbeat music) - [Narrator] This famous painting by John Trumbull is not actually the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

This work shows the Committee of Five, the authors of the declaration, presenting a draft to the Continental Congress on June 28th, 1776, not the day of the signing, which took place on August 2nd that same year.

Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration, commissioned Trumbull to commemorate the event, but this small oil painting would end up becoming a 30-year project.

Trumbull took historical notes from Jefferson, studied Independence Hall, and traveled to every signer for their portrait.

If a signer had passed, he either copied from a previous portrait or used their son as a stand-in.

Trumbull would later be asked to create six historical paintings for display in DC, including a much larger version of this one, cementing his title as the Painter of the American Revolution.