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Painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware
Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851, Public Domain
As I wrote my other post about pride in Washington crossing the Delaware, I became curious about the painting that celebrates it. The painting is so commonplace that I don’t really give thought to it. But I noticed it was painting by a German-American Emmanuel Leutze, which seemed odd. It turns out he had grown up in America but returned to Germany as an adult. After the failed revolutions of 1848 in Europe, he painted Washington Crossing the Delaware to encourage Europe’s liberal reformers not to despair after their recent setbacks.
There are some interesting features of the painting. Although the crossing took place late on the night of 25 December, Leutze depicts the light of dawn in the background. The dawn illumines George Washington and the flag, making them the visual center of the painting. In the painting Washington is the only figure standing straight while several other figures with their oars and the flagpole itself are leaning backward and depicting action. This emphasizes the central role of Washington and his enduring character.
The men in the boat are significant too and show the unity of all classes of Americans behind the Revolution. The front man is a Western rifleman in a coonskin cap. Behind him are a Scotsman in his bonnet and a black man. In the rear of the boat is another Westerner, two farmers in broad hats, and an American Indian at the stern. All America joined together to fight the British.
Around Washington, and not nearly as calm as he, are Lieutenant James Madison holding the flag, Gen. Nathanael Greene leaning over the side, and Gen. Edward Hand grasping his hat. I couldn’t find any information about the figure in white hugging the flag, but he reminds of the picture of Trump hugging the flag in 2016, so let’s suppose that it is a prophetic image of the 45th and 47th president.
I gained new appreciation for this painting and the role of Washington and his steadfastness in the Revolution while researching this post. Take a moment and enjoy the visual qualities of this painting that may have lost its freshness because we have seen it too much.
Published in Art
There were two copies of the painting made. One was sent to the US. The other was kept in Germany and (I believe) was destroyed during WWII. The artist used the River Rhine for the backdrop rather than the Delaware – another nod to the revolutions of 1848.
From what I read, there were three copies. One was kept in Germany and destroyed in 1942 in an Allied bombing raid. The second was sold to an American, and it was eventually donated to the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art. A third, smaller copy of the painting was displayed in the White House, a Minneapolis museum, and other places. It sold for $45 million in 2022.
Here’s another painting by George Caleb Bingham also called Washington Crossing the Delaware. It looks so pedestrian compared to the one by Leutze. It makes you realize Leutze’s genius.
Re:
Yes, inferior in many ways. Leutze’s has a great feel of motion and action, as opposed to a still shot. And why would you paint Washington on a horse in the boat? Also, note that Leutze’s framing puts Washington at a point of the rule of thirds, while the other puts him at the center. Unless it’s a head shot, don’t put your subject at the center.
Thank you for that. I did indeed take time to examine the painting as you suggested. I came away with a new appreciation for the men and the event.
Washington needed that victory. There were men in Congress trying to have him replaced.
Nice post: thank you!
It’s also enormous, similar in size to The Night Watch. We saw it in The Met in NYC in April and were surprised by how big it is.
I always think of this painting when I take my scenic route driving down south. I take I84 west to Milford, PA. There is a twenty mile scenic route that runs along the Delaware River. There are no buildings, beautiful views, and plenty of places to pull off and enjoy the river. It’s one of the nicest stretches of road in the country.* I then work my way through Gettysburg and on to the two lane truck route I81 from there.
I would love to see one of those paintings in person but I have a personal boycott of NYC and I don’t see myself in Minneapolis anytime soon.
* Anywhere in the Grand Canyon is pretty but you can only take so much sky and rocks. I think the best drive is from Helen, GA over the Appellation Trail along the Chatuge River to NC.
Correction – The third one was in a museum in Winona, Minn., not Minneapolis. The museum sold it at auction in 2022 to an anonymous buyer for $45 million. Kind of sad for it to be taken off public view, but I can understand why a small museum would need that kind of money.
So the third was copy #2 and the original was destroyed in Germany correct? I can’t even comprehend $45M for wall art. For that kind of money I could pay people to re-enact it live on the Delaware, on Christmas eve, every year for the rest of my life. It will eventually end up in public view. As long as the new owners take proper care of it.
I read some interesting discussion about the historical inaccuracies in the painting. The actual boats used were larger than the ones shown, and Washington and his staff crossed in a much larger vessel. The flag is anachronistic as it was only designed in 1777. No Indians participated and probably no blacks. There were not ice floes on the river but it was freezing into a sheet of ice. The crossing was done well before dawn. And on and on.
But someone replied that whether or not the details were accurate, the painting was correct because it caught the daring and steadfast spirit of Washington, the sacrifices of the soldiers, the new unity of Americans, and the dawning of a new age. That in fact, the “incorrect” details create a correct overall view. In short, the painting captured the Spirit of ’76.
Copy #1 stayed in Germany and was destroyed in an air raid in WWII in 1942.
Copy #2 was brought to America for display and sold to an American. In 1897 it was donated to the Met, where it now hangs.
Copy #3 was a smaller version that was sold to an American and passed through a number of hands. It hung in the White House for a time on loan. Eventually, the founders of the Winona, Minn., Minnesota Marine Art Museum donated it to the museum. In 2022 it was sold to a private collector. Let’s hope it does come back on public display.
(And just to be clear, I was correcting my original statement that the third one had been in Minneapolis. I wasn’t correcting you.)
It’s great you discovered that route.
Sometimes I try to imagine what the countryside looked like before white settlers came. No roads, no electric lines, no fences, no buildings. Herds of buffalo and other game. The blue dome of the sky from horizon to horizon. But even more subtle changes – for example, the Beaver River in the Oklahoma Panhandle where I grew up is lined with trees now, but in old pictures there are no trees because prairie fires burned them off.
One of the most awe-inspiring vistas I ever had in my life was when I visited the Beach House at Kennedy Space Center. That was where the astronauts stayed the night before launch during the Mercury and Gemini program. If I looked to the north I could see Cape Canaveral as it appeared when Diego Bermudez followed the Florida coast during the early 1500s on the first European voyage of discovery along North America’s Atlantic Coast. It was undeveloped when they established the Eastern Launch Range (which became KSC). It remains that way for range safety purposes and is now a nature preserve. Turn 180 degrees to the South and there are the 21st century launch pads and support facilities for rockets. You figuratively travel in time 500 years through that simple rotation.