Morlachs by the Sea and Uskoks, Hand Colored Costume Lithograph, 1842

This is an original antique lithograph, hand colored, from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). The upper image shows three Morlachs on a rocky shore with the sea, a rowing boat and sailing ships behind. At the left a young man in a brown jacket and breeches stands with one foot raised on a rock and a hand at his chest. In the center a woman in a crimson gown with a ruff collar and a white headdress looks on, and at the right a young man in white with a tall conical ocher cap and a blue cloak sits on the rock holding a bunch of leafy greens, a cup beside him. The lower image shows three Uskoks. At the left a figure with long hair in a dark fur cap, a gray blue coat, a yellow skirt and a striped apron holds a distaff. In the center a man in a gold trimmed crimson jacket and crimson trousers, a white sash and an ocher cap holds a long pole topped with a curved blade, and at the right a man in the same crimson dress sits on a rock with a pipe.

The plate is lettered "Tom. IV" at the upper left, "IMP AUSTRIACO" in the center and "Tav 103" at the upper right. The upper caption reads "Morlacchi" (Morlachs), and the lower caption reads "Uscocki" (Uskoks).

The Morlachs were the rural people of the Dalmatian hinterland. The Uskoks were irregular soldiers based at Senj on the Croatian coast, known in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for raids on Ottoman and Venetian shipping.

The Adriatic setting and crimson costumes suit a collection of Balkan or Mediterranean prints.

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