Ancient Germanic Militia and a Mounted Soldier, Hand Colored Lithograph, 1842

This original antique lithograph, hand colored, comes from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). The upper image shows two warriors in a rocky landscape. The man at the left stands bearded and bare limbed in a loincloth, a yellow spotted animal skin drawn over his head and shoulders and topped with blue gray plumes, gripping a tall spear, with a long plank shield behind him. The man at the right sits on a rock in a plumed steel helmet, a mail shirt with a gold belt and a red cloak lined in blue, a spear at his side, red shoes, and a tall rectangular shield standing beside him. The lower image shows a mounted soldier on a gray horse stepping across sandy ground. He wears a helmet crested with a gold bird, a mail shirt and a red cloak, carries a spear upright and holds a tall dark rectangular shield, and a carved head ornaments the horse's breast strap.

The lettering reads "Tav 68" at the top left, "GERMANIA" at the center and "Tom IV" at the top right. The upper caption reads "Milizia" (militia), and the lower caption reads "Soldato a cavallo" (soldier on horseback).

The plate pictures the ancient Germanic peoples under arms. Roman writers, Tacitus among them, described the spears and large shields of the tribes beyond the Rhine, and both images show warriors equipped with long spears and tall rectangular shields.

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