LyrArc Article Gist
Mort Kunstler, a painter in Long Island, has a more historically correct painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776 to attack Hessian forces in the Battle of Trenton. The crossing was made on a 50 foot flatboat ferry and not in a smaller boat as shown in the classic painting- the 1851 portrait, "Washington Crossing the Delaware," by Emmanuel Leutze. Leutze did not have good access to historical detail when he created the painting in Germany. Leutze's painting is the most asked-about painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It shows Washington in a heroic posture. The new painting by Kuntsler is smaller, more realistic in details, and was commissioned by Thomas Suozzi. Suozzi was inspired by David McCullough's book "1776," and says Washington's decision to rally his troops with a victory during an especially bleak period is something that impresses him most. It will be displayed at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan.