Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851
The Art Newspaper
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware attracted
more than 50,000 visitors in four months during its 1851 premiere in New
York City.
The public paid to see the 12ft-high by 21ft-wide painting of George Washington and his soldiers advancing across the frozen Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776, leading to the victorious battle of Trenton.
What the New York Evening Mirror called at the time “the grandest, most majestic, and most effective painting ever exhibited in America”, is now the centrepiece of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 25 redesigned and expanded galleries of American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, which are due to open on 16 January.
For the first time, the Met has installed its entire American art collection chronologically on one floor.
Dating from the 18th century to the early 20th, the works hang in sky-lit, beaux-arts-style galleries.
“Visitors can follow the history of American art, or rather the history of America, through these galleries in a way that was not possible before,” says Morrison Heckscher, the curator of the American Wing, adding that sculpture from the collection will be scattered throughout the galleries.
The public paid to see the 12ft-high by 21ft-wide painting of George Washington and his soldiers advancing across the frozen Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776, leading to the victorious battle of Trenton.
What the New York Evening Mirror called at the time “the grandest, most majestic, and most effective painting ever exhibited in America”, is now the centrepiece of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 25 redesigned and expanded galleries of American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, which are due to open on 16 January.
For the first time, the Met has installed its entire American art collection chronologically on one floor.
Dating from the 18th century to the early 20th, the works hang in sky-lit, beaux-arts-style galleries.
“Visitors can follow the history of American art, or rather the history of America, through these galleries in a way that was not possible before,” says Morrison Heckscher, the curator of the American Wing, adding that sculpture from the collection will be scattered throughout the galleries.
Read the rest here
Works included are on loan from the American Folk Art Museum, a personal favorite of mine. The gallery additions have been discussed for years now, I'm so glad all the hard work is completed and the artwork is all available to view at once. Sounds like a good enough excuse to visit New York! GL
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