Emanuel Leutze
1851

This depiction of George Washington (1732-1799) and
his men crossing the Delaware River from Pennsylvania
to New Jersey to launch an attack on the Hessians
(German soldiers hired by Great Britain) on December 25,
1776 -- a turning point in the Revolutionary War -- was
a great success both in Germany, where Leutze painted it,
and in the United States. Its popularity lay chiefly in
the choice of subject, appealing as it did to flourishing
nationalism at midcentury not only in those two countries
but around the world. The work's monumental scale added
to its effectiveness. Despite some historical inaccuracies,
the painting remains an object of veneration and is one of
the best-known and most extensively published images in
American art. It is exhibited here in a reproduction of its
original frame, based on a photograph by Mathew B. Brady.

from: The Met