WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE

The painting illustrated here is based on an original massive canvas by Thomas Sully (1783-1872) completed circa 1819 called The Passage of the Delaware, and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1825, George S. Lang (1799-after 1883) produced an engraved version of the painting titled Washington Passing the Delaware. While several artists made copies after Lang's engraving of the Sully painting, perhaps the most famous group of Washington Crossing the Delaware paintings were produced by Edward Hicks. Though some similarities between the Hicks' works and the painting illustrated here exist, the majority of Hicks' paintings were larger. The canvas illustrated here more closely approximates the size of the Lang print.