English manners and French prudence or French dragoons brought to a check by a Belvoir leap.. A scene after nature near Cuidad Rodrigo September 1811
Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756 – London 1827)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1811
Materials
Glass, Paper, Wood
Measurements
290 x 310 mm
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 434236
Summary
Etching, coloured, English manners and French prudence or French dragoons brought to a check by a Belvoir leap.. A scene after nature near Cuidad Rodrigo September 1811 by Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756 – London 1827). Published by H Humphrey, 1811. Amendments have been added in sepia ink. Framed and glazed. Inscribed on the reverse. Obstupuere Omnes!' An English hussar officer, General Lord Charles Henry Somerset Manners (1780-1855), holding his sabre against his shoulder, takes a flying leap across a stream, looking composedly over his left shoulder at French mounted soldiers, whose horses have checked at the stream. He says "Adieu Messieurs." The foremost Frenchman cries "Sacrebleu!!!," the others Mais Comment?"; "Quel Diable d'anglois"; and "Est il possible." Their horses are clumsy compared with the English thoroughbred. Each Frenchman has a different uniform. The scene is a barren plain sloping to the stream from a mountainous background, with soldiers marching in the distance. Two small frogs in the foreground (right) gape at the frustrated pursuers.
Marks and inscriptions
Lt Charles Manners
Makers and roles
Thomas Rowlandson (London 1756 – London 1827), engraver (printmaker) Hannah Humphrey, engraver and publisher