But Adams did not just read books. He battled them. The casual presumption that there is some kind of rough correlation between the books in the library of any prominent historical figure and the person’s cast of mind would encounter catastrophe with Adams, because he tended to buy and read book with which he profoundly disagreed. Then, as he read, he recorded in the margins and at the bottom of the pages his usually hostile opinions of the arguments and authors.... [T]he Adams marginalia constitute evidence more revealing of his convictions about political theory than any of his official publications.
John Trumbull (1756—1843)
Oil on wood; 9.8 x 7.6 cm (3 7/8 x 3 in). Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Oil on canvas. 76.83 x 61.28 cm • 30 1/4 x 24 1/8 in. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
Oil on canvas; 96.5 x 121.9 cm (38 x 48 in). Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Oil on wood; 14 x 11.1 cm (5 1/2 x 4 3/8 in.) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Oil on canvas; 9 3/4 x 50in. (101 x 127cm). Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT.
Oil on canvas; 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm). Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, MA.
Oil on canvas; 36 x 28 in. (91.4 x 71.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas. City Hall Portrait Collection, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 30.125 in. x 20.125 in. (76.517 cm. x 51.117 cm.). Winterthur Museum, Wintherthur, DE.
Oil on canvas; 235 x 160 cm (92 1/2 x 63 in.) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams (1993)