A Study of Emmanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware

Abstract

Washington Crossing the Delaware was created by painter Emmanuel Leutze in 1851. It depicts the scene of Washington leading the 14th Army of the Continental Army across the Delaware on Christmas Eve, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, preparing to raid Hessian mercenaries. This operation was the first step in the Battle of Trenton and a key turning point in the American Revolutionary War. This article is dedicated to conducting a formal language analysis of the work, revealing its implicit image meaning, creative process, and the attitude of the US government towards historical paintings, in order to enrich the research on thematic historical paintings of the 19th century in the United States.