Focus on The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 and discuss the Critical reception.
Trumbull did not use the prelude to the capture, namely the crossing of the Delaware River, as a subject. Artists did not paint that until 1819 by Thomas Sully and then notably by Emanuel Leutze. Trumbull's work drew criticism from historian and painter William Dunlap after he viewed it in the Trumbull Gallery at Yale in 1834: All that is good in this picture was painted in 1789 and shortly after. What is good is very good, but unfortunately the artist undertook, in after life, to finish it, and every touch is a blot.
William Dunlap Emanuel Leutze crossing of the Delaware River Thomas Sully