Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Washington Crossing the Delaware
1853
Paul Girardet, engraver; M. Knoedler; Emanuel Leutze, artist after
USA: New York, New York City
Colored engraving on paper
frame: 35-1/2"h x 49-1/2"w x 1"d; sheet?: 22-1/4"h x 38-1/5"w
Special Acquisitions Fund
74.2.13

Washington Crossing the Delaware; colored engraving after a painting by Emmanuel Leutze; framed. Printed on bottom beneath image: "PAINTED BY E. LEUTZE Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1853 by M. Knoedler in the Clerk's Office of the district court of the southern district of New York. ENGRAVED BY PAUL GIRADET"

In 1851 Emanuel Leutze exhibited his dramatic, large painting—over 20 feet long—entitled Washington Crossing the Delaware, to great acclaim. Critics considered it a “great modern painting” and 50,000 people paid to see it while it was on view. This widely disseminated print version of the scene further popularized the image of a favorite hero leading his army at a difficult moment in the nation-defining Revolutionary War. The evocative image continues to be one of the best-known depictions of an event from American history.