Boston's own version of "Washington Crossing the Delaware, " by Thomas Sully, a subject that always seems to demand enormous canvases and wall space, had to be accommodated by cutting a hole in the ceiling.

WSJ: The Metropolitan Museum of Art | American Wing | The New World Reborn | By Ada Louise Huxtable

He was referring to the Hudson River School as we stood in a gallery that included not only "Heart of the Andes" but also Albert Bierstadt's "The Rocky Mountains Landers Peak" and Emanuel Leutze's monumental "Washington Crossing the Delaware, " which dwarfed both.

WSJ: American Idyll

It was the writings of Thomas Paine that General Washington ordered his men to read before crossing the Delaware.

WHITEHOUSE: The 2010 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Ceremony | The White House