Washington Crossing the Delaware

On Christmas night, 1776, General George Washington’s army crossed the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on British forces at Trenton, New Jersey. His victory was a turning point in the American Revolution and became a favorite subject among later generations of painters. The fame of Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) inspired this heroic scene by genre painter George Caleb Bingham. As weary soldiers row through the icy waters, Bingham presents Washington above on horseback, an elegant ideal of masculinity and leadership.

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