Studies of Fighting Horsemen
Pen-and-ink sketches of mounted combatants, rearing horses and a draped bust
A loose sheet covered with rapid pen-and-ink studies of horsemen in combat, arranged in several loosely stacked groups. Riders charge and thrust with lances while their mounts rear, gallop and stumble, and near the centre a larger half-length draped figure with a bowed head is worked up more fully. The lower register develops a denser melee of falling horses and fighting riders. Only old inventory numbers and a collector's stamp accompany the drawings; no substantive text by the artist is present.
On this page
Mounted combatants and rearing horses
Several horses are sketched in violent movement, rearing, galloping and plunging beneath their riders. The animals are caught mid-stride with tossing manes and outstretched legs, a study of equine action rather than static pose.
Draped half-length figure at centre
At the middle of the sheet a larger bust-length figure is drawn with a bowed, downturned head and heavy drapery over the shoulders. It is more finished than the surrounding riders, isolated from the combat groups.
Riders jousting with lances
The paired horsemen level long lances at one another across the sheet, the shafts drawn as single sweeping lines. The action reads as a clash of armed cavalry.