Object Details
- depicted
- Washington, George
- Kelly, Thomas
- Description (Brief)
- Colored print of George Washington standing, dramaticaly poised on the very edge of the bow of a wooden row boat. The boat is depicted in the foreground, and contains American troops using oars to navigate through boulders of ice in the Delaware River. It captures the moment in time when Washington is leading his troops to cross frigid waters for a suprise attack on British and Hessian troops at Trenton, New Jersey on Christmas 1776. In the center of the boat is a soldier carrying a large American flag. The print by Kelly is based on the 1850 Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze painting of "Washington Crossing the Delaware." Leutze's original painting was created in Germany and designed to cause a stir about the struggles following the European revolutions of 1848. Leutze was also an abolitionist and deliberately includes an African American soldier in his composition on the ice behind Washington's boat, and there are numerous boats transporting troops in the background. Kelly's print does not include the black soldier, and blurs the couple of boats in the background that are transporting horses.
- Thomas Kelly was a successful Irish-born lithographer who had learned the craft in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- ca 1870
- ID Number
- DL.60.2574
- catalog number
- 60.2574
- accession number
- 228146
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 17 3/4 in x 24 in; 45.085 cm x 60.96 cm
- overall: 20 in x 25 3/4 in; 50.8 cm x 65.405 cm
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- Related Publication
- Peters, Harry T.. America on Stone
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Art
- Peters Prints
- Domestic Furnishings
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Horses
- Costume
- Revolutionary War
- Uniforms, Military
- Patriotism and Patriotic Symbols
- related event
- American Revolution
- Record ID
- nmah_324888
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a2-dfe8-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
