Washington Crossing The Delaware River by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
As this week saw Independence Day celebrated across the Atlantic, for this week's artwork we've selected a painting that depicts a crucial moment in the American Revolution.
George Washington leads his army of 2,500 troops, crossing the Delaware River in a surprise attack on the Hessians (German soldiers hired by the British Empire). The attack took place over night on December 25th, 1776, however ice and storms kept Washington from landing on shore until morning.
Leutze captures the first signs of daybreak. Painted by a German American in 1851 and exhibited in Bremen, the original version was destroyed in a British Air Raid in 1942. Today replicas exist in The White House, and the Met, New York.