By Roselle Chen

NEW YORK (Reuters] – Next month will see the auction of the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware”. It was hung in the White House for over 40 years, from the 1970s through 2014. The estimated value is about $20 million.

Emanuel Leutze created three oil paintings of Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 portrait of the American president who would lead troops in a pivotal moment during the American revolution. Two of the three versions survive.

Paige Kestenman of Christie’s New York, American Art Specialist said the original was destroyed by an air attack in World War Two on Germany.

Kestenman stated that the second work is the iconic work at the heart of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing. The third work is right here.

New York’s Met version measures 11.4 ft by 21.25 feet (3.78m x 6.48m). It is approximately 3 feet (0.9m) wide by 6 feet (1.83m) tall. The painting that was up for auction on May 12th is slightly smaller. The painting had been hung in the White House reception area for many decades.

Kestenman explained that Washington is seen leading his soldiers along the Delaware River in order to shock the infantry hidden on the opposite side of the river on Christmas Eve, 1776.

Kestenman said that Leutze, an American-born immigrant from Germany, was also a strong abolitionist. In Washington crossing Delaware, he intentionally included many of the figures that made up the melting pot which formed America.

She pointed out two Black soldiers, one wearing a Scottish bonnet and another with moccasins, buckskin, and a black soldier.