CROSSINGS
We, as a nation, owe more than we realize to a man named Emanuel Luetze.
To begin with the man's name is pronounced LOIT-suh, and now that we have met him he is be remembered as an artist born in 1816 in Germany who came to America as a child – to Philadelphia – with his parents. He grew up in that area, and in 1859 moved to New York City to live.
He painted a picture which has loomed large our national growth. It stands twelve feet high and twenty-one feet in length.
Today, we can learn from studying this patriotic representation “Washington Crossing the Delaware”. We can examine it, today, and see ourselves both as we once were and as we are.
Almost any attempt to paint picture if an historical event invites a clutter of criticism. Some just grounds for criticism may come from the very complexity of the situation being shown and the involved personalities of the persons depicted as well.
In this case we find the artist set out to paint a picture which would express the basic feelings of patriotism and freedom which inspired the people at that to take action.
The artist painted realty as he saw it . Notice that no two men in the boat are wearing uniform clothing. It was a ragtag army, poorly equipped and inadequately supplied, who were facing up to the Hessians and British Redcoats across the cold. ice-packed river waters against rushing winds. Look at this picture when you have a chanbcetodo so,m and check to see if the criticisms we hear today concerning our national leaders is valid or the results of artistic license taken by the critics.
We see General Washington in uniform as the artist saw him depicted in a museum image; that's James Monroe holding the wind-swirled flag, just behind Washington. Both men are doing something that could have been fatal to the mission - standing an an small boat which could be easily overturned. The flag Monroe is holding the is that designed by Betsy Ross some ten years later. The lone, black patriot on the group is a man known as Prince Whipple who lived in Baltimore at the time of the Crossing.
One can find fault with the painting endlessly, it seems, but it still teaches a fine lesson in patriotism. The focal point of it all is on the stalwart figure of Washington eagerly facing the dangers of an unknown future. He also depicts vividly the rugged character of the colonial people. Leave the nitpicking to those nerds who delight in seeking such slight slivers of departure from exact photographic detail of historical events.
A.L.M. November 20, 2003 [c455wds]
