Sully, Thomas “Washington Crossing the Delaware. A New Quartette. Music composed by C. Zeuner. Poetry by Seba Smith, Esq. . . ."

“Washington Crossing the Delaware. A New Quartette.  Music composed by C. Zeuner.  Poetry by Seba Smith, Esq. / Composed . . . and Sung by The Ilsleys.”

Based on the painting by Thomas Sully.  Music cover. Lithograph. New York: Charles Holt, Jr., 1847. Pictorial vignette by James Britton of New York and San Francisco. Ref.: Peters, America on Stone, 110-112 and 223. Lacks the music. Excellent single page.

John Trumbull’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” is a famous icon of the Revolutionary War; however, Thomas Sully created another version showing the General on a spirited horse directing the loading of boats to prepare for the brave crossing of the river. Soldiers and a cannon are about to join boats in the river approaching the New Jersey side. Sully’s monumental painting for the North Carolina capitol building was never finished, but versions such as this in drawings and prints circulated in mid-nineteenth century America. An unusual piece of lithographed Americana.