Beyond Myths: Look Again
Back Story
When George Washington, the first president of the United States, died on December 14, 1799, he was mourned internationally. Revered as a Revolutionary War hero and great leader, Washington quickly became a major cult figure.
Throughout the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American and European popular culture celebrated Washington’s mythic status for patriotic and political purposes. His image in uniform, portrayed by so many artists in a variety of media, symbolized military prowess in addition to resistance, freedom, and individual liberty. In short, he represented the power and legitimacy of the still evolving nation, born in revolution. In this history painting, created ten years before the outbreak of another epic turning point, the Civil War, Emanuel Leutze depicts Washington as an inspiring “national” leader: authoritative, strong, and honored by both North and South, despite his Virginia roots.
Emanuel Leutze (American, b. Germany 1816). Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851. Oil on canvas, 149 x 255 in. (378.5 x 647.7 cm). Gift of John Stewart Kennedy, 1897 (97.34)
Artistic License
An immigrant to the United States, the German-born Leutze completed this painting while living and working in Düsseldorf, using the Rhine as a stand-in for the Delaware River. He was less concerned with historical accuracy than with maximizing the dramatic effects of the painting, and he took several liberties with the details: the boats are crossing the Delaware River in the wrong direction; the ice floes are impossibly large; and there were no horses or artillery in the actual boats, which are already far too small for what they carry. Although the crossing took place at night, Leutze chose to capture the moment at dawn, with sunlight streaming down through the clouds and the morning star guiding Washington and his soon-to-be victorious troops.
Leutze’s depiction of this pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War presents a specific viewpoint on American history—the Great Man theory. It’s also worth noting that Leutze produced the work shortly after a revolutionary wave targeting monarchies swept across Europe, where he lived at the time. And ten years after completing this work, Leutze painted Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, a mural-size canvas celebrating the idea of Manifest Destiny that is still on view in the U.S. Capitol. Leutze’s ambitious representations of patriotism, identity, and expansionism have become ingrained in our national iconography, one that is increasingly understood as telling only part of a larger story.
More to See
In the 150 years since Leutze painted Washington Crossing the Delaware, several other artists—particularly of color—have responded to the subject, bringing markedly different perspectives to the historical episode.
We crossed the River at McKonkey's Ferry 9 miles above Trenton ... the night was excessively severe ... which the men bore without the least murmur...-Tench Tilghman, 27 December 1776/Struggle Series - No. 10: Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1954. Egg tempera on hardboard, 11 13/16 × 15 15/16 in. (30 × 40.5 cm). Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2003. © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (2003.414)
The leading 20th-century African American artist Jacob Lawrence proposed his own reinterpretation that highlighted the collective action of anonymous soldiers over the heroicized general, as part of a landmark series produced in the mid-1950s about the founding years of the country, Struggle…From the History of the American People. Twenty years later, Black American artist Robert Colescott recast Leutze's painting with a boat full of racist stereotypes in his incendiary and satirical George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook. And Cree painter Kent Monkman’s 2019 mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): Resurgence of the People, the second part of a diptych commissioned by The Met and debuted in its Great Hall, echoes Leutze’s composition while challenging art history's misleading colonial narratives about Indigenous peoples.
Kent Monkman (First Nations, Cree, b. 1965). mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): Resurgence of the People, 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 11 × 22 ft. (335.3 × 670.6 cm). Purchase, Donald R. Sobey Foundation CAF Canada Project Gift, 2020 © Kent Monkman (2020.216b)
In each of these powerful works, the artists make particular statements about the biases of American history and mythmaking, while emphasizing the critical role art plays in shaping popular narratives and providing alternative visions.
