Against All Odds: The Courage of Washington Crossing the Delaware

Reaching Within: What traditional art offers the heart

“Washington Crossing the Delaware,” 1851, by Emanuel Leutze. Oil on Canvas, 12.4 feet by 21.2 feet. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain

We are often encouraged to realize our dreams over the course of our lives. Some want to start a business; some want to be mathematicians or scientists; and others want to play music, act, or create. Quite often, however, we are bombarded with difficulties when we try to reach our goals.

I recently came across a painting I often went to visit when I lived in New York: “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze. Leutze’s depiction makes me consider the importance of freedom and how vital courage is when we wish to achieve something great.

An Inspired Leutze

Despite being considered an American painter, Leutze was actually born in Germany. He spent his youth in Philadelphia with his father until the age of 25, at which point he returned to Germany to enroll in the Royal Art Academy in Düsseldorf. By the time he had returned to Germany, he had already grown to appreciate the ideals of freedom that so many Americans held dear.