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Washington Passing the Delaware
Washington Passing the Delaware
Washington Passing the Delaware

Washington Passing the Delaware

Artist
Period1835
MediumOil on wood panel
Dimensions19.1 × 27 in. (48.5 × 68.6 cm)
InscribedInscription painted on the reverse of the panel, "Washington Passing / The Delaware / Evening Previous to the Battle / of Trenton Dec 25th 1776 / 1835."
ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life
Credit LineGift of Dr. Robert A. Cooke, 1942
Object number1734
DescriptionGeorge Washington in a navy blue jacket and yellow breeches mounted on a white horse in the right foreground, with four male figures to the right - one in a yellow cape mounting a brown horse, two nearby on horseback, and another further in the distance behind Washington with his sword pointing toward a river and the hilly shore opposite. To the left of Washington three soldiers in blue uniforms and a fourth in a yellow cape are guiding a cannon downhill toward the river, with a fifth soldier on horseback leading them. Five narrow boats loaded with soldiers and horses are seen crossing the river to a landing on the far shore where troops are gathering. A house stands on the hill above the landing. The artist has included a gnarled small tree on the bank immediately behind Washington. Snow covers the ground under a moody night sky.
Curatorial RemarksThis work and all versions like it are thought to have been painted after an engraving etched by William Humphreys and engraved by G. S. Lang that was published by Samuel Augustus Mitchell in Philadelphia on 20 May 1825. The engraving was based on an 1819 painting titled "Washington's Passage of the Delaware" by Thomas Sully.NotesThe painting depicts the events of Christmas night, 1776, when George Washington and his army crossed the Delaware River at McConkey's Ferry, now Washington's Crossing, PA, for a daring attack on Hessian soldiers quartered at Trenton, NJ. Below him, mounting his horse, is Gen. John Sullivan, and at the far right edge of the painting is Gen. Nathaniel Greene with an African-American soldier. Behind them is Gen. Henry Knox on a rearing horse pointing his sword toward the river.
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