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1 of 253523 objects
Private, Regiment of Horse 1A "Leib Regiment" c. 1749
Oil on canvas | 51.2 x 40.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406848
David Morier (1705?-70)
Private, Regiment of Horse 1A "Leib Regiment" c. 1749
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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.
King George III's insignia is elegantly woven into the saddle of the rider's bay horse; the Private wears the white uniform of the Hanoverian Leib-Regiment (which later served in America with the British Army during the American Revolution) and the horse's legs perfectly frame the fortified landscape beyond.
Provenance
Probably painted for William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and one of the 114 'Pictures of Miltary Costume' of these dimensions (1ft 4in x 1ft 8in) recorded in the Upper Library at Buckingham Palace in 1819 (no 984)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
51.2 x 40.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
64.6 x 54.5 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
