Painting of Benedict Arnold as hero of Battle of Saratoga will be conserved for display in NY Military Museum by 2027.
The massive 25-foot by seven-foot painting saw the light of day for the first time since 2013 when it was unrolled for a conservators inspection on January 16.
Saratoga Springs, New York (01/20/2026) — A massive painting memorializing Benedict Arnold's heroism at the 1777 Battle of Saratoga was unrolled for the first time since 2013 at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs on Friday, January 16, 2026.
The painting, "Benedict Arnold triumphant at Saratoga", was opened in the museum's meeting room so that John Lippert, a partner in the firm of Foreground Conservation & Decorative Arts, a Livingston company that specializes in restoring artwork, could examine it.
The goal, according to museum director Courtney Burns, is to have the painting restored and hung in the museum in time for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga in 2027.
Arnold is remembered as one of the most infamous traitors of all time for attempting to betray the American forts at West Point, and George Washington, to the British during the American Revolution.
But prior to that, he played a key role in delaying a British invasion of northern New York and leading a key charge that forced the British to retreat during the fighting at Saratoga.
The 25-foot-long and seven-foot-high painting by George Gray captures Arnold leading American Soldiers in storming the fortification held by Hessian troops called the Breyman Redoubt.
The narration embedded in the painting is by Kenneth Roberts, a noted historical novelist of the 1920s to 1940s who wrote two books featuring Arnold as an American hero.
Lippert said his company, which restores a lot of murals and large paintings, will clean the painting and do touchup work to bring out the original colors of the painting. Since it was painted in 1937 the varnish on the painting has turned dark, he explained, so they will remove that.
The conservators will also need to repair a corner of the painting where an inset, depicting Arnold at the 1776 naval fight at Lake Champlain's Valcour Island, was apparently cut out of the painting, Lippert said.
The military museum has that piece, so that will be worked back into the painting, Lippert said.
His team will also put the painting onto a wooden frame, so it is ready to be hung in the museum, Lippert said.
The work will likely take about six months, he added.
Lippert's company has done other conservation work for the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, by repairing historic paintings in other New York National Guard armories.
Burns said the cost of the project could be as high as $30,000. The money, he said, is being provided through the Friends of the New York State Military Museum, a private not-for-profit. That organization is getting the money from an anonymous donor, Burns said.
The painting was donated to the New York State Military Museum in 2013 by the H. Lee White Marine Museum in Oswego. It 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.
The painting has been in storage since it was originally donated.
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.
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The painting “Benedict Arnold, Triumphant at Saratoga,” painted by George Gray in 1937 is rolled out on tables at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs NY on Friday, January 16, 2026. The painting, which once hung in the Hendrick Hudson Hotel in Troy, New York is going to be conserved and displayed at the military museum in time for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga in 2027. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Stephanie Butler)
John Lippert, a partner in the firm of Foreground Conservation and Decorative Arts, examines the painting "Benedict Arnold, Triumphant at Saratoga" at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs on Friday, January 16. Lippert’s company has been contracted to clean and conserve the 25-foot long, seven-foot-high painting, which highlights Arnold’s heroism at Saratoga in 1777. The goal is to have the painting ready to display by 2027, the 250th anniversary of the critical battle. ( U.S. Army National Guard photo by Stephanie Butler)
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