One of the most iconic images of the American Revolution wasn't painted anywhere near America, and it isn't even the original version of itself.
What you're looking at
Emanuel Leutze painted this monumental scene in 1851, showing George Washington standing at the front of a small boat crossing an icy river at night, surrounded by soldiers rowing through floating ice ahead of a surprise attack. At 378.5 x 647.7 cm, the original painting is enormous, far larger than any print size available today.
Painted in Germany, using the wrong river
Leutze painted this scene while working in Düsseldorf, Germany, using the Rhine river as a visual stand-in for the actual Delaware River back in America, since he was painting the scene from imagination and historical research rather than the real location. Despite the geographic distance, the painting became one of the most recognizable images of the American Revolution ever made.
This isn't even the first version Leutze painted. His original painting was damaged in a studio fire, and that first version was later completely destroyed during a World War II air raid on Germany. The second version, painted afterward, is the one that survived and is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the very painting most people picture when they think of this moment in American history.
One detail to look for
Look at the icy river surface itself, built from thick, textured chunks of white and gray paint. Leutze paints the ice as a real physical obstacle the boat is genuinely fighting against.
See it at its real size
The original is monumental, 378.5 x 647.7 cm, far larger than any canvas we print, so every size we offer is honestly marked as a Room Edition. Shop the canvas print.