Salvete Omnes,
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| Tredegar House obelisk, Wales, UK |
from the English countryside come this unusual obelisk to commemorate a horse - a 15 hands tall bay stallion named Sir Briggs. Briggs went to the Crimean War theater as a mount for Captain Godfrey Morgan, of 17th Lancers aka Light Dragoons UK, and galloped with his rider into the Valley of Death during the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Probably in 1854 Sir Briggs, then still just Briggs, was painted by Alfred F. de Prades (French-English, 1825-1885), one of the XIX century British Empire preeminent equestrian and portrait painters.
Sir Briggs lived through the war and died, age 28, at Morgan's estate in 1874.
and here in Cardiff, Morgan and Sir Briggs sculpted in full lancer and war steed glory on a pedestal
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| sculpture by sir William Goscombe John |
Below, some more of Alfred F. de Prades' works:
starting with his canvas from 1838, when he was but a 13 years old boy.
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a portrait of a horse
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| @ Christies |
enjoy
Valete
6 comments:
Hello, Dariusz! I came across your April 9, 2025 blog on A F de Prades horses...I am his biographer and am putting together notes for a catalogue raisonnée of de Prades's works and noticed a couple of pictures that I'd not come across yet, and wanted to ask you about them. One was a sepia tone image of a gentleman on horseback...this is very definitely a copy of a work I know by Frank de Prades...but the face is different, it's rendered in sepia and the year in the signature is later. I'm wondering if you remember if that was an AI rendering or is an image completely based on an actual painting and what the source might be? Secondly, you shared a picture of a bay horse with a small top hatted gentleman at a style-gate holding the reins. Underneath it says "@ Christies". Do you recall which of the worldwide Christies auction sites that was from? I REALLY appreciate any information you can share! --grace and peace, Fred Powell-Haig, Buffalo, NY
Oh! forgot to share my email! fpcnopastor@gmail.com
Hello Fred Powell-Haig - thanks for visiting my blog - much appreciated.
I will start with the 2nd query - this is the Christie's sale of the painting - https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5656897 title: Before the hunt - painted 1862
Fred, the first query - I usually get my images from Wiki Commons - hence Wiki Commons is the source for this portrait of Eugene Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. I have nothing more on it https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Frank_De_Prades_(1820-1890)_-_Eug%C3%A8ne_Louis_Jean_Joseph_Bonaparte_(1856-1879).jpg
Alamy also has this 'sepia' image, perhaps a photograph of the lost painting?
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/3A2DPCD/this-1872-portrait-by-alfred-frank-de-prades-depicts-eugne-louis-jean-joseph-bonaparte-the-prince-imperial-mounted-on-horseback-it-captures-the-nobility-and-youthful-vigor-of-the-prince-3A2DPCD.jpg
Congrats on your project about maestro de Prades. Looking forward to see it in the bookstore - :) cheers
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