Spanish Hussar and Cavalry Trooper, Lithograph after Villegas, Madrid, 1861

An original hand colored lithograph of two Spanish cavalrymen on horseback, drawn and put on stone by Villegas and printed at the military lithographic press in Madrid. The plate belongs to the Album de la Caballería Española, the illustrated history of the Spanish cavalry compiled by Serafín María de Sotto, Conde de Clonard, and published in Madrid in 1861.

On the left a trooper in a black bicorne hat trimmed in yellow sits a dark bay horse at the halt. He wears a blue coat with white crossbelts and touches of red and yellow, and a sword in its scabbard hangs below the saddle, which is laid over a blue saddle cloth edged in yellow. On the right a hussar in a tall fur busby rides a dun horse that steps forward with one foreleg raised. His green dolman is laced across the chest with yellow cords, he holds a drawn saber in his right hand and a carbine is slung across his body. The pair stands on a sandy plain under a pale sky, inside a ruled border with rounded corners.

The lower margin is lettered at left "Villegas dibujó y litografió" and at right "Lit. Militar S. Bernardino 7. Madrid", the military lithographic press at number 7 calle de San Bernardino. The figures carry no caption on this sheet, so the regiments are not named here.

The Conde de Clonard (1793 to 1862) was a Spanish general and the leading military historian of his generation, author of the many volume Historia orgánica de las armas de infantería y caballería españolas. His cavalry album presents the mounted troops of Spain reign by reign, from medieval men at arms to the regiments of Isabel II, usually in pairs of figures like these, and the plates are far scarcer on the market than comparable French and German uniform prints.

The print is a lithograph on a buff tint, with the uniforms, horses and ground finished by hand, which gives the blues, greens and reds a fresh, saturated quality. It suits a collection of military costume or equestrian subjects.

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