Spanish Cavalry Lancer and Hussar, Lithograph by Villegas, Madrid, 1861

This hand colored lithograph shows two Spanish cavalrymen riding across open ground, a lancer and a hussar, drawn on the stone by Villegas for the Album de la Caballeria Espanola of 1861. The image is signed "Villegas" in the stone at lower left, and the lower margin is lettered "Villegas dibujó y litografió" on the left and "Lit. Militar S. Bernardino 7. Madrid" on the right.

On the left a lancer in a white jacket with red collar and cuffs sits a dappled gray horse with a red saddle cloth. He wears a white crested helmet with a red plume and carries a lance flying a red and yellow pennant in the Spanish national colors. On the right a hussar in light blue, heavily braided in yellow, with a white fur trimmed pelisse slung from his shoulder and a plumed headdress, rides a bay horse at a collected trot, his sabretache and saber hanging at his side. The two figures are set against a pale sky and a sandy plain, within a double ruled border with rounded corners.

The Album de la Caballeria Espanola was compiled by Serafín María de Sotto, Count of Clonard, the leading Spanish military historian of his day, and published in Madrid in 1861. Its plates, drawn and lithographed by Villegas and printed by the Litografía Militar at San Bernardino 7, trace the dress of Spanish horsemen from the Middle Ages to the reign of Isabella II. Finished copies carry a printed caption naming the reign and regiment; this sheet has no caption below the imprint lines, so the regiments are not named here.

Spanish military costume plates are much less common on the market than their French and German counterparts, and the strong color, fine horses and crisp drawing make this a handsome piece for a study, library or collection of equestrian and military prints.

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