Who painted the famous 1851 history painting Washington Crossing the Delaware?

Emanuel Leutze painted the famous 1851 history painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.

Leutze was a German-born American artist associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. He completed the best-known version in 1851, decades after George Washington’s actual crossing of the Delaware River on the night of December 25–26, 1776. The painting presents Washington standing in a boat during the dangerous river crossing that preceded the Battle of Trenton.

The artwork is historical art, not a literal eyewitness record. The boat, figures, lighting, and composition were arranged for dramatic effect. The people shown represent a symbolic cross-section of the revolutionary forces rather than a documented roster of the men in one boat.

Leutze created three versions. The original was destroyed in a bombing raid in Bremen during World War II. The large surviving version is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, while another smaller version was displayed at the White House before moving to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.