Prince of Orange on a Rearing Dark Gray Charger, circa 1815

An original antique engraving, colored by hand, captioned "THE PRINCE OF ORANGE." The young prince sits a dark gray horse rearing up to the left, its forelegs raised high and its long gray mane flying. He wears a black bicorn with a white plume and a gold ornament, a red coat with gold epaulettes and gold frogging, a yellow shoulder belt, an order with a white cross on his chest, a crimson waist sash, white breeches and black riding boots with spurs. A sword blade reaches forward past the horse's neck. The saddlecloth is blue edged with yellow, with a fur holster cover in front. At the lower left grow plants with red flowers, and a single hill rises on the distant horizon. The face is worked in stipple.

Below the image at the lower left the plate is signed "Romney. scu." and at the lower right it carries the page reference "Page 443." The publication line below the caption is cut through along the lower edge, so only the tops of its letters survive and the date cannot be read; the year is therefore given as circa 1815. The Prince of Orange later reigned as King William II of the Netherlands.

It belongs to The History of the Wars occasioned by the French Revolution by William Nicholson, LL.D., printed in London for Thomas Kelly of 17 Paternoster Row. Its title page promises biographical sketches of the public characters of Europe and carries the story through the Congress of Vienna, the escape from Elba, Waterloo and the exile to Saint Helena. The plates themselves name Richard Evans of Whites Row, Spitalfields, in their engraved publication lines.

A lively, rearing pose that makes a strong single picture or a good companion to the other equestrian portraits from the same book.

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