‘Washington Crossing The Delaware’ Now Crosses the Auction Block

Arguably one of the most important and most recognizable paintings in U.S. history – Washington Crossing the Delaware – could bring as much as $20 million when it hits the auction block May 12 at Christie’s.

The 1851 painting by Emanuel Leutze hung in the White House from the 1970s to 2014. It is one of three versions painted by Leutze, famously capturing the moment when General George Washington boldly led his troops across the half-frozen Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey on Christmas night 1776.

The success of Washington’s surprise attack on a camp of Hessian mercenaries hired by England changed the course of the Revolutionary War and the history of our nation.

Leutze began painting the first version of Washington Crossing the Delaware in 1849 — 73 years after the Revolutionary War battle depicted in his work. One version of the painting was destroyed during World War II air raid while a second forms the centerpiece in the American Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The painting at the Met is enormous, measuring 12.4 x 21.25 feet.