the first copy was destroyed by the royal air force in a raid on dusseldorf during world war ii, which is considered great britain's last revenge for the american revolution. the other really neat thing about this painting is that of course he's playing fast and loose, we're already several decades into this idea that history painting is not archival as much as ennobling, you're supposed to read it for the lessons it has to teach. he has no qualms or scruples about making stuff up, which makes this a really interesting painting to read, because everything in it was meant to be interpreted for one reason or another. one of the things i like the best about people who have interpreted it is they say this person here, for example, i don't know if you can see it, everyone thinks, partly because of the way she looks but also because of what she's doing, this is actually a woman. everyone in the boat, she's the only one rowing in the right direction. there might be something to that, i don't know. also unlike trumbull and copley, he wasn't very careful about who he populated the boat with. he