Who Painted Washington Crossing The Delaware
“Washington Crossing The Delaware” is a well known painting that depicts George Washington crossing the Delaware River during the American Revolutionary War. The painting is a considered to be a very important piece of art because this was one of the most famous moments in American history. The painting is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where it is a part of their permanent collection. They are also many copies of this painting, including one in the reception area of the West Wing of the White House. Let’s take a look at who painted this famous painting, keep reading to find out.
Who painted Washington Crossing The Delaware?
“Washington Crossing The Delaware” was painted by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. Leutze was a German American artist and was hoping to encourage Europe to follow the example of the American Revolution. He finished painting the first version in 1850, but it was damaged due to a fire in the artist’s studio. It was restored and sold to the German art museum Kunsthalle Bremen. However, it was destroyed in World War II by a British bombing raid. The second version, a full sized replica, was completed in 1851. It was displayed in New York the same year and over 50,000 people came to view it. The painting was bought for $10,000 (an extremely large sum at the time). It had multiple owners through the years before it was eventually donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by John Stewart Kennedy in 1897.
Did you know?
The flag of the United States shown in the painting was not created until 1777 and Washington would have instead used the Grand Union Flag at the time of crossing the Delaware River.
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