Guardias de la Persona del Rey, Spanish Royal Guard Cavalry, Lithograph, 1861

Two mounted guardsmen of the Spanish royal household face one another across an open, sandy plain in this hand colored lithograph lettered "Guardias de la Persona del Rey", the guards of the person of the King. The plate is signed in the stone by Villegas and lettered in the lower margin "Villegas dibujó y litografió" (drawn and lithographed by Villegas) and "Lit. Militar S. Bernardino 7. Madrid", the military lithographic press in the Calle de San Bernardino in Madrid.

The guardsman at left sits a dappled gray horse at a walk. He wears a crested helmet with a tall blue plume, a dark blue coatee with a scarlet front laced in silver, silver shoulder cords and a crossbelt, pale blue trousers and white gauntlets, and he carries his saber at the slope. His companion at right rides a dark gray horse that steps forward with a raised foreleg; he wears a tall black bearskin cap with a white plume, a scarlet and blue coat, white breeches and high black jackboots. Both horses carry dark blue shabracks edged in silver.

The plate belongs to the Album de la Caballería Española, the illustrated history of the Spanish cavalry compiled by the Conde de Clonard, Serafín María de Sotto, and printed by the Litografía Militar in Madrid in 1861. The album traces the mounted arm of Spain through successive reigns in a long series of uniform plates, each showing two or more riders in the dress of a particular regiment or guard. The drawing is precise in the details of dress and harness, and the coloring is laid on by hand over the printed lithograph in clear blues, scarlets and silvers.

Spanish uniform plates of this quality are much less often seen than their French and German counterparts, and they are sought by collectors of military costume, equestrian subjects and the history of Spain. A single plate makes a strong picture for a study or library, and several from the album hang well together.

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