Roman Equestrian Statue and Cavalry Reliefs, Montfaucon Engraving, 1722

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, a single page plate from the fourth volume of Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. A large equestrian statue, numbered 1, fills the upper left: a bearded rider in tunic and cloak with his right arm outstretched, on a horse with one foreleg raised. To the right are a small riderless horse with a saddle cloth, a galloping horseman in helmet and cloak with a shield, and a helmeted horseman with a decorated oval shield and one arm raised. At lower left a rider in a crowned headdress and flying cloak gallops over a running boar beside a tree, and below him rides a bearded horseman in a cloak. The lower right is a large relief of men in cloaks leading horses with fringed and ornamented saddle cloths, one carrying spears, a shield hung on a horse, over rocky ground.

The captions read "Pereier" under the equestrian statue, "Diar. Ital." under the small horse, "Trajanes Pillar" under the galloping horseman, "Antonines Pillar" under the horseman with the oval shield, and "Boissard" under each of the two riders at lower left; the large relief carries no caption. Trajanes Pillar is Trajan's Column and Antonines Pillar the column of Marcus Aurelius, both in Rome. The figure numbers run from 1 to 7. The corners read "Page 47" at top right, "Vol. IV." at foot left and "Plate 10" at foot right. No engraver's signature appears.

Bernard de Montfaucon (1655 to 1741) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar whose L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures appeared in Paris in 1719. This English translation by David Humphreys was printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts. Volume four deals with war, and Montfaucon set figures copied from monuments, coins, gems and earlier antiquaries side by side, naming each source.

The large statue and the relief of led horses give the sheet a bold, open composition.

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