George Washington before the Battle of Trenton

George Washington before the Battle of Trenton

John Trumbull

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Washington sat for Trumbull in Philadelphia in 1792; from that sitting, the artist created a fullsize canvas (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.) and this smaller version. The general is shown on the evening before the pivotal Battle of Trenton in late 1776. He looks upward, conceiving his strategy against the vastly superior approaching enemy. The significance of the moment is expressed in the drama of the threatening sky and by the excitable horse, held in check by a soldier groom.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Washington before the Battle of TrentonGeorge Washington before the Battle of TrentonGeorge Washington before the Battle of TrentonGeorge Washington before the Battle of TrentonGeorge Washington before the Battle of Trenton

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.