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Secondary sourcePainting1851

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Emanuel Leutze · 1851

Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting depicting Washington leading his troops across the icy Delaware River on the night before the Battle of Trenton.

This iconic, later painting shaped how generations have imagined Washington's leadership during the crossing of the Delaware.

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Painting of a rowboat crowded with soldiers crossing a river filled with floating ice chunks. A standing man in a dark cloak at center grips the boat, a flag with stars flies behind him, and a sunlit pale sky with dark clouds fills the upper area.
Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

About this source

What it is

This large oil painting was made in 1851 by the German-American artist Emanuel Leutze, depicting George Washington crossing the Delaware River with the Continental Army on the night of December 25-26, 1776. The version discussed here is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; other versions existed, including one destroyed in World War II and one once displayed in the White House.

Why it matters

Leutze painted it decades after the event to inspire European liberal reformers during the Revolutions of 1848, using the American Revolution as a symbol of freedom. The crowded boat shows men from different backgrounds, including a man of African descent, reflecting an idealized vision of a united, diverse nation rather than a documented historical record of the crossing.

Look closer

  • Why might an artist painting in Germany in 1851 choose this particular American scene?
  • What does the dramatic lighting and composition tell you about how the artist wanted viewers to feel?
  • Since the painting was made 75 years after the event, how might it differ from what actually happened that night?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of George Washington and James Monroe on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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