Washington Crossing the Delaware

"Washington Crossing the Delaware" is almost certainly one of the most recoginizable images in the history of American art. What you may not know is that it was painted in 1851 by a German artist… in Düsseldorf. Furthermore, you might not be aware that the original version of the work remained in Germany and was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. (A full-sized contemporary replica in is the holdings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.) It commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the night of 25-26 December 1776, during the American Revolutionary War.