Topline
One of only two surviving versions of "Washington Crossing the Delaware," among the most recognizable paintings in American history, could sell for as much as $20 million when it goes to auction next month after hanging in the White House from the Nixon through Obama eras.
Key Facts
German-American painter Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 depiction of George Washington and the Continental Army crossing the Delaware River during the American Revolution has appeared in millions of students’ history textbooks, on stamps and even on the New Jersey state quarter.
It will go to auction at Christie’s next month in New York, where it’s expected to sell for between $15 and $20 million.
The painting previously hung in the White House for about 35 years while on loan from Detroit millionaire industrialist Richard Manoogian, spanning from President Richard Nixon’s administration through Barack Obama’s two terms in office, when it was often displayed in the West Wing lobby.
The longtime State Department curator Clement Conger called “Washington Crossing the Delaware” one of “the most important American paintings ever to hang in the White House.”
In 2015, billionaire Robert Kierlin and his wife Mary Burrichter announced they purchased the painting for an undisclosed sum, and loaned it to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota, which the couple founded.
The 40-by-68 inch painting is a smaller version of the roughly 12-by-21 foot painting that hangs in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, where it is one of the collection’s most popular paintings.
Key Background
Leutze and his studio did three versions of the painting. Along with the surviving Met and White House versions, a third belonged to a German museum collection and was destroyed in bombing during World War II. The version up for auction next month was commissioned by the art dealers Goupil, Vibert & Company, which also originally purchased the version that hangs in the Met. They wanted a smaller version of the scene that could be easily reproduced through engraving, which is one of the reasons "Washington Crossing the Delaware" has been so widely seen.
Tangent
Leutze was an abolitionist and purposefully represented a Black soldier in “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” Some historians have identified the man in the front of the boat as Prince Whipple, who was enslaved by one of Washington’s aides, fought in the American Revolution and was emancipated after the war.
Further Reading
Andy Warhol’s Portrait Of Marilyn Monroe Could Fetch Record $200 Million (Forbes)
Long-Lost Trophy Oars From First Harvard-Yale Regatta Could Bring $5 Million At Auction Debut (Forbes)
