Art

The Declaration of Independence     John Trumball

The most frequent historical criticism of this painting is that it depicts a scene which never took place. To understand, we need to look at the historical background.

The chronology of the Declaration of Independence is that the initial resolution that the "Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States" (still preserved in the handwriting of R. H. Lee) was introduced June 7th, debated...

Washington Crossing the Delaware     Emmanuel Leutze

Painted in Dusseldorf, Germany around 1851, the artist had lived in America as a boy, and after going back to Germany, had returned to America many times (years later he would emigrate here). While here, he visited the Smithsonian ...

Washington at Monmouth     Emmanuel Leutze

Leutze painted "Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth" about a year after he painted "Washingon Crossing the Delaware" to which it is comparable in size - about 23 feet by 13 feet. The work was the result of a commission from David Leavitt of New York City. Upon its arrival in New York from Dusseldorf in 1854, it was put on public display for several months. Mrs. Mark Hopkins, widow of the western railroad mogul, purchased it in 1879. In 1882 she made a gift of it to the University of California, where it was exhibited for many years before dropping out of sight around the turn of the century. In 1857 Leutze ...

Landsdowne Portrait     Gilbert Stuart

This portrait is one version of Gilbert Stuart's best-known full-length image of Washington. These are known as the "Lansdowne" portraits because this version was the gift of Mrs. William Bingham to William Petty, second Earl of Shelburne and first Marquis of Lansdowne, a British supporter of the American cause during the Revolutionary War. Washington agreed to sit for the portrait in the spring of 1796, writing the artist on April 11: "Sir: I am under promise to Mrs. Bingham, to set for you to-morrow at nine oclock, and wishing to know if it be convenient to you that I should do so, and whether it shall be at your own house, (as she talked of the State House), I send this note to you, to ask information." Washington's grandson George Washington Parke Custis later ...

Lewis and Clark West to the Pacific     Frank R. "Bob" Davenport