The Evening Star (October 22, 1946)
Washington on Delaware painting destroyed in raid
BERLIN (AP) – The original of the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by the German artist Leutze, was destroyed in a British bombing raid on Bremen September 15, 1942, the newspaper of the American port command at Bremen said today.
The painting, familiar to every American schoolboy, was originally to be hung in the Capitol at Washington, but when it was slightly damaged by fire the artist retouched it and sold it to the German government in 1863. Later it was hung in the Bremen Kunsthalle (art gallery). German art directors at Bremen said they valued the painting at 60,000 marks ($24,000 at prewar rates).