It is 728 BC, and the Kushite warrior king Piye (r. 747-716 BC) is on his way down the Nile River to conquer a weak and divided Egypt, therefore initiating what would be called the kingdom’s 25th dynasty.
I wanted this scene to resemble the iconic Emanuel Leutze painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River in 1776, right down to the composition and the crepuscular sunbeams shafting down from an otherwise cloudy sky. The cape I gave Piye is meant to make him look more heroic and more reminiscent of Washington in Leutze’s work.