Albert Duke of Saxony in Armor with Shield and Sword, Costume of 1489, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, lettered "Habit of Albert Duke of Saxony, Captain General of the Low Countries, in 1489." It is plate 177 from Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, published in London in 1757. The duke stands in plate armor with a helmet crested in gold and plumed in red, turning his bearded face toward the viewer's left. A heraldic shield painted with red and white diagonal bars beneath a band of gold fleurs-de-lis hangs at his shoulder. Below the tassets he wears puffed orange-brown breeches paned in red and spurred shoes, one leg in gray and one striped in yellow. His right hand rests on the hilt of a large sword planted beside him, and his left grips a gilt sword at his hip.

The English title is engraved in script below the figure, with the French caption "Albert Duc de Saxe, Gov.r Lieut.t & Capitain Gen.l au Pay Bas." (Albert, Duke of Saxony, Governor, Lieutenant and Captain General in the Low Countries) beneath it and the plate number 177 at lower right. No engraver or designer is named on the plate. The date in the English title is the date of the costume shown; the print itself was published in 1757. Albert III, Duke of Saxony, known as Albert the Bold, founded the Albertine line of the house of Wettin and served Maximilian of Habsburg as commander in the Netherlands.

Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published the second volume of A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern from his premises in the Strand, London, in 1757. As the title page states, the figures follow the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others. The book was bilingual, with the French title Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, and its plates pair an English title in script with a shorter French caption.

The plate works well framed on its own, or as part of a small group of regional costume prints in matching frames.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.