Work of Art: Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze
Curator Carrie Rebora Barratt tells the story of one of the greatest icons of American painting, Emanuel Leutze's monumental Washington Crossing the Delaware.
Episode Date: February 16, 2007
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Episode Transcript
Carrie Rebora Barrat: Hi, I'm Carrie Barratt, a Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture in The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I want to tell you a little bit about one of my favorite paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and one that has to be among the sort of top ten tourist attractions in the Museum, if not in the city. The painting I'm talking about is Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, painted in 1851 in Germany. And I'd like to tell you about the painting in really three facets: first, the historical background of the event shown itself, which is a fascinating and crucial event in American history; then about Leutze and how this picture came to be painted in Germany; and then a little bit about the painting itself, because a lot of people forget when looking at this monumental, glorious scene that it actually is a painting that was made by an artist for money and for fame and at a time when Washington's own legacy was newly enhanced.
The scene that's shown is obvious: it's Washington crossing the Delaware in a boat with a great number of his troops. The actual number was 2,500; 2,500 men crossed the Delaware with Washington as their leading commander on Christmas night, December 25, 1776. They crossed the Delaware River—Washington's battalion—about nine miles above Trenton, New Jersey, and—this is between the Pennsylvania and New Jersey border—on Christmas night, during a nor'easter, one
