Evening star., 1918-02-24
Son of Painter of "Washinqton
Crossing Delaware"
Recalls Facts.
C0RRECTS IMPRESSIONS
ERRONEOUSLY CREATED
Faces Of Majority Of Figures Were
Those Of Early American
Friends Of the Artist.

Interesting facts are given concerning
the creation Of the famous painting OF
~washington Crossing the Delaware" by
American artist, and several misconcep-
tions are also corrected by Rear Admiral
E II. Leutze, U. s. n, retired, Of this
city. son OF the distinguished man. who.
though German born, became the foremost
depicter Of American historical scenes.
Admiral Leutze's attention had been
called to the statement that the picture
was actually painted on the banks OF the
Rhine and that it is in reality repre-
sentation of a crossing Of that stream;
also that German soldiers posed for the
figures and that the faces are alleged to
possess distinctively German character
istics.
German soldiers may have posed to
some extent for the figures" said the re-
tired officer yesterday to representative
Of The Star, but in only one face Is there
any Teutonic cast The faces of a ma
jority Of the figures were posed for by
early American friends Of my fathers
who were studying under him at Dussel-
dorf at the time. / am quite confident
that William Whittredge. afterward pres
ident Of the National Academy OF Design,
and then studying abroad. was the model
for Washington; certainly If it was not
Whittredge it was some other American
friend. OF that I am sure. My mother,
however. in her later Life. always said it
was Whittredge.
Among American Friends.
~Among these American friends was
Mr.. Charles K Stellwagen, an American.
the father Of Edward ]. Stellwagen,
president Of the Union Trust Company
OF this city. Which figure ne posed Tor
enc Of the more prominent ones. Mr..
etelwaSen was q skillful artist devot-
ing himself largely to miniature work:
was lifelong friend OF my fathers. ana
was at that time studying at Dusseldorf.
The face Of the man pulling the oar
nearest the stern Of the boat Is of Teu-
tonic type and was posed Tor BY Tel.
low artist, Mr.. Henry Ritter, Pennsyl-
vanian. His German name makes it like
" that, although an American. he was
Of Teutonic ancestry and might have been
German in appearance, as 50 many Penn
eylvanians are still today. The faces OF
several others are those Of typical Amer
lean backwoodsmen Of the time. lean
and spare, while those OF the officer
crouched at Washington's feet and OF
the standard-bearer are also distinctly
American.
"But assuming that one or more Of
the faces are German, this leads UP to
an interesting point. You will notice
that in the bow Is man wearing .
Highlanders bonnet and Of a rather
Celtic cast Of countenAnce. Beyond him
1s . negro. ] am quite confident that
these types were Introduced to shOW.ehe
Sprinkling Of the various races when
were represented among the American
colonists and which. OF course, went to
make up the Continental army.
Contained Several Errors.
Admiral Leut1e remarked that he
read with interest an article on TINS
picture appearing in the special fea-
tures section OF last Sundays Star by
Or. Bernard J. Cigrand of the faculty
Of the University Of Illinois. This
story. he pointed out, while showing
4 keen interest In the subject OF the
painting and the circumstances under
which It wAs made, yet contained sew
eral errors, including that of the prev
alence of German facial types.
"Dr. Cigrand says that the posing
German soldiers wore either continen-
tai uniforms actually used by the pa
triots Of ITS or careful reproductions
Of the same My recollection 10 that
Just one uniform was used. that for the
Axure Of Washington. His il the only
figure in uniform that shows more than
q glimpse Of military costume. Two
men are in civilian clothes; three others
are in the buckskin shirts and COON
skin caps Of bAckwoods ridemen-
'sThe author also points out that my
father, when spring came and the
Rhine was choked with Ice, sketched
that rivers banks and cakes OF ice, and