Costuming the Revolution

How historically accurate is the clothing depicted in pictures of the founding fathers and the American Revolution? Focusing on the iconic image of John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence, this study explores how artists used dress to both reflect and transmit ideas of national identity. In costuming their subjects, artists altered, updated, and invented fashions to reflect evolving ideals of American plainness. This article examines the previously overlooked role that painters play as costume designers, arguing that the clothing choices presented in their works reveal as much about post-revolutionary values as revolutionary reality. By approaching art history from the perspective of a costume designer, this article highlights the subtle symbolic language of the post-revolutionary period embedded in sartorial details. Retrospective costume choices seen in recent-history paintings of the Revolution reveal a complex interplay between fashion history, art history, and the ongoing process of American history and American mythology.