Micro Mystery # 12 Revealed

Mystery Clue # 12

Washington Crossing the Delaware

by

Emanuel Leutze.

Emanuel Leutze lived from 1816-1868. He was a German born American. In 1841 he returned to Germany where he began painting a series of pieces of American history. Washington Crossing The Delaware was started in 1849 and completed in 1850 but was damaged in a fire which started in Leutze’s studio. Once restored it was exhibited in New York City  in 1851. The painting was created to encourage Germans who had been defeated in the revolution of 1848.

The painting has often been a subject of conversation due to some of the inaccuracies depicted in the painting.

1. The boats are smaller than they were in real life.
2. The American Flag is  anachronistic, not correct in detail for the given time period.
3. Washington’s pose is questionable.The General was most likely not standing up in this pose in the boat on a stormy crossing.
4. The time of day for the crossing is not correct.

Artistic license will override these small inaccuracies. In my opinion Leutze was a master at creating a sense of drama and meaning within a historical event. You can see this painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It is breath taking when you see it up close and it immediately draws you into the scene.

Michelle Behl noticed the man in the foreground in the clue and had this observation, “I had never noticed before the checkered cap of the gentleman that’s at the bottom of the clue. Wow…I would say a Scotsman, fighting alongside a frontier trapper, and of course, General Washington, Awesome.