Washington Crossing the Delaware: Art in the Service of Politics

Emanuel Leutze's representation of a critical episode in the American Revolution has been associated with other key historical moments. For example, when it was painted in Düsseldorf in 1851, it was relevant to the ongoing campaigns for democracy and unification in Germany. During the Civil War, it was enlisted as a reassuring emblem of American heroism and the Union cause. This lecture traces some of the roles that Washington Crossing the Delaware has played in relation to changing political contexts, up to the present.