Morier was a Swiss military and sporting painter who started working for William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-65) in 1747, when he painted a series of pictures of troops under his command. From 1752 until 1764 he was employed as ‘limner’ (painter) to the Duke on an annual salary of £100; his name also appears regularly in royal accounts from 1764 to 1767. A private in the 16th Light Dragoons, full-length, mounted on a rearing bay charger, riding to the right in an extensive hilly landscape; he turns half to the left and, looking back over his right shoulder, fires a pistol.