Washington Crossing the Delaware

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Emanuel Leutze

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leutze's depiction of Washington's attack on the Hessians at Trenton on December 25, 1776, was a great success in America and in Germany. Leutze began his first version of this subject in 1849. It was damaged in his studio by fire in 1850 and, although restored and acquired by the Bremen Kunsthalle, was again destroyed in a bombing raid in 1942. In 1850, Leutze began this version of the subject, which was placed on exhibition in New York during October of 1851. At this showing Marshall O. Roberts bought the canvas for the then-enormous sum of $10,000. In 1853, M. Knoedler published an engraving of it. Many studies for the painting exist, as do copies by other artists. Read a Native Perspective on this work.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Washington Crossing the DelawareWashington Crossing the DelawareWashington Crossing the DelawareWashington Crossing the DelawareWashington Crossing the Delaware

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.