Baltimore City seal - click for Home The Baltimore City Circuit Court
& Baltimore Bar Library Art Collection
in Connection with the Maryland State Archives

MSA SC 5590

Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse
The Baltimore Courthouse and Law Museum
Room 243

black line
The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown
by Jean Paul Laurens (1838-1921)
Unveiled December 8, 1910

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 1
Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 2
Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 3
Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 4
Panel 1
Panel 2
Panel 3
Panel 4

The Municipal Art Society commissioned Jean Paul Laurens at a sum of $13,000 to paint four large mural paintings for the Orphan’s Court of Baltimore City depicting the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Panels 1 and 2 depict the British and Hessians armies of 8,000 men in compliance with the articles of capitulation and are flanked on either side by the French and Continental armies. Panel 3 depicts General O’Hara surrendering to General George Washington, because General Cornwallis had sent word that he was ill, and remained behind. The painting was executed and briefly displayed in Paris, France before it was brought to the courthouse. 

A plaque below panel 3 reads as follows:

To the Memory of the Maryland Line:
This decoration was provided by an initial gift from the Maryland Line Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution, supplemented by gifts from the Municipal Arts Society,
and private individuals and principally, by the liberality of the city of Baltimore.



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