Painting commemorating heroic Benedict Arnold will be unrolled at NYS Military Museum on Friday, Jan. 16

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The painting "Benedict Arnold Triumphant at Saratoga" once hung in a Troy hotel.

LATHAM, NY (01/15/2026) (readMedia)-- A massive painting depicting Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold as the hero of the Battle of Saratoga-- which once hung in a Troy hotel-- will be unwrapped for examination on Friday, January 16 at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs.

The painting will be conserved so it can be displayed in the museum during the 250th anniversary of the battle.

During the battle's second major engagement, on October 7, 1777, Arnold, mounted on horseback, led an American charge which resulted in the capture of a key British fortification.

Members of the press are invited to view and take pictures of the unrolling of the seven-foot high and 25-foot-long painting and speak with members of the museum staff about its significance.

WHO: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center Director Courtney Burns, and museum staff members.

WHAT: An opportunity to view this painting by American artist George Gray, a renowned painter of military and history art. The painting was donated to the New York State Military Museum in 2013 by the H. Lee White Marine Museum in Oswego. The painting was one of many Gray completed for the American Hotel Corporation in the 1930s to commemorated local history in the places where they owned hotels.

In this case the painting was in the Hendrick Hudson Hotel in Troy which closed in 1966.

A companion piece by Gray, which also hung in the Hendrick Hudson Hotel, commemorates the New York National Guard in World War I currently hangs in the military museum.

WHEN: 11 a.m., Friday, January 16, 2025

WHERE: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, 61 Lake Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

BACKGROUND:

THE PAINTING "BENEDICT ARNOLD, TRIUMPHANT AT SARATOGA"

Major General Benedict Arnold famously connived with the British in 1780 to allow the British Army to occupy the important fort at West Point which he commanded and to capture George Washington. He later went on to command American Loyalist troops in the last part of the American Revolution.

But in the opening days of the war, he led an audacious American attack on Quebec and turned back a British attempt to conquer Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York. During the Battle of Saratoga, he was second in command of the American force and was considered one of his best generals by Washington.

The painting "Benedict Arnold, Triumphant at Saratoga", captures the moment at which Arnold leads American troops in storming a fortification held by Hessian troops called the Breyman Redoubt. The fall of the redoubt forced the British Army to retreat to a position where it was eventually surrounded by the Americans and forced to surrender.

The painting has been stored, rolled up, since it was acquired. It will be unrolled on January 16 so that conservators from Foreground Conservation & Decorative Arts, a Livingston, New York-based company, can examine it.

Museum Director Courtney Burns estimates that preparing the painting for display will involve a complete cleaning, consolidating loose or flaking paint, infilling areas where paint has been lost, mounting the painting on a panel or stretcher and reattaching a map insert that was removed.

Funding for the project, which could cost around $30,000, is being provided by the Friends of the New York State Military Museum, a group which helps underwrite the cost of museum projects.

For more information about the painting you can read this story on the National Guard Bureau website:

https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article-View/Article/574296/painting-honoring-benedict-arnold-finds-new-home-in-new-york-military-museum/

THE NEW YORK STATE MILITARY MUSEUM AND VETERANS RESEARCH CENTER

The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center tells the story of New York State's rich military history and the service and sacrifice of its citizens through interpretive exhibitions, public programs, and the collection and preservation of artifacts and archival material related to the state's military forces and its veterans.

The museum houses over 30,500 artifacts at the historic 1889 Armory in Saratoga Springs.