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Stock# 89625

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Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

Title

(19th-Century American Gilt Frame) Washington Crossing the Delaware

Publication Place / Date

New York / 1853

Image Dimensions

Color

Hand Colored

Condition

VG+

Stock# 89625

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Description

Washington Crossing the Delaware, in an Original 19th-Century American Frame. Proof Before Title.

Finely engraved and beautifully engraved version of Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware, executed by Paul Girardet around 1853.

Leutze's painting commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the night of December 25-26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. That action was the first move in a surprise attack against the Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey, in the Battle of Trenton.

Girardet's engraving depicts perhaps the single most iconographic image of American history. Goupil published two editions of the engraving, a large version, issued in 1851, and a smaller version in 1853. The image was so ubiquitous that Mark Twain commented sardonically upon its presence over countless mantlepieces in Life on the Mississippi.

The original painting was part of the collection at the Kunsthalle in Bremen, Germany and was destroyed in a British air raid in 1942, during World War II. A second, full-size version of the painting was made by Leutze in 1850. The painting was originally bought by Marshall O. Roberts for $10,000. After changing ownership several times, it was finally donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by John Stewart Kennedy in 1897.

Editions

This is a very rare artist's proof of the image, printed "Chine-colle" or china paper attached in printing to a heaver sheet. The artist's and engravers' name are “scratched” in the lower corners just below the image. In later titled impressions the artist's and engravers' names are more formally engraved.

Condition Description

Copper plate engraving on 19th century wove paper, finished in hand color. Framed in original mid-19th-century carved frame with armorial motifs. Upper centerpiece displaying an American crest sitting atop mounted fortifications. Corners capped with relief stars. Wood covered in gilt, recently reapplied.