Battle of Waterloo with Cuirassiers Facing British Infantry, 1816

An original antique engraving, colored by hand, of a battle scene captioned "Taken at the Moment of time when the Cuirassiers was surrounded by the 79 Regiment and Scotch Grays at the BATTLE OF WATERLOO." At the left a group of mounted officers watches the action; the central figure, in a blue coat and crimson sash on a chestnut horse, points toward the fighting, while beside him an officer in a bicorn and a red coat leans forward on a gray horse. Red coated infantry in shakos press forward with fixed bayonets against French cuirassiers in brass helmets on gray and chestnut horses, and a Highlander in a tartan kilt fights at the far right. A Union flag, a red color and a French tricolor fly over the melee. Fallen soldiers and a dead horse lie in the foreground. Beyond, smoke rolls over the field, a building burns, a farmhouse stands at the left, and columns of troops line the ridges beneath a wooden tower. The image is enclosed by a ruled border.

Below the border the plate is lettered "Engraved by Romney, from a Painting by Heath." The publication line reads "London Published, by Rich.d Evans, Whites Row, Spitalfields, 1816." and "Page 530." is engraved at the lower right.

This plate comes from The History of the Wars occasioned by the French Revolution by William Nicholson, LL.D., printed for Thomas Kelly, 17 Paternoster Row, London. The book offers biographical sketches of the public characters of Europe and an account running through the Congress of Vienna, the escape from Elba, Waterloo and the exile to Saint Helena. Each plate bears its own engraved line naming Richard Evans of Whites Row, Spitalfields, as publisher.

A crowded, colorful battle piece that works well beside the portraits of the commanders from the same book.

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