Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851)
This most famous American painting was created by a German painter named Emanuel Leutze, originally in 1849 and then again in 1851. The story behind his motivation for painting this image provides a helpful connection between American and European revolutionary movements. Teachers and students can use this image to study both the Revolutionary War and the history of nineteenth-century nationalist conflicts.
- 1851 version of the painting (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
- Leutze’s Symbolic Scene (NEH)