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The new painting shows a determined Washington holding onto a cannon, illuminated by a torch as he heads into battle outnumbered and underequipped. His troops were a ragtag bunch. Instead of military uniforms, they likely wore hunting jackets and wool caps, Kunstler said. While he was able to verify the weather, time of day and vessel type, the artist said, he based other details like clothing "on probability." "I don't see any reason you can't make this scene dramatic and exciting
-- and historically correct," said Kunstler, an 81-year-old Brooklyn native. His painting, entitled "Washington's Crossing: McKonkey's Ferry, Dec. 26, 1776," debuted Monday. Leutze's painting is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the other side of Central Park. But art lovers will have to wait a few more weeks before they can compare the two paintings in real life: The Leutze piece is in storage pending the opening of the new American Wing on Jan. 16. "It's always been the one work of art people ask for," Met spokesman Harold Holzer said. The museum recently had the painting reframed in the style in which it was first shown in New York in 1895 at a charity benefiting Civil War soldiers. Leutze "made the scene as dramatic as he could, and it obviously has had an impact on people," Holzer said. Holzer, who is himself a historian, planned to participate in Monday's presentation of Kunstler's painting.
[Associated
Press;
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