Diligence - traveling from Perpignan to Barcelona in 1820s

 Salvete Omnes,

Christmas is two weeks away, so we have got time to do a little time  travel with a certain young American to Spain in 1820s.

this young gentleman,  Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (1803-1848),  began his trip to Spain by taking a public transport aka  the stagecoach known also as a diligence (and  una  diligencia o  carruaje in Spain) from a southern French town of Perpignan , crossed into Spain and arrived at Barcelona.

in the volume I Mackenzie wrote the following about the French diligence horses and their traveling - they traveled at a 'slow and easy pace', the horses were 'heavy-headed' and 'thick-legged.'

Alexander S. Mackenzie published his travel books in London 1831 and in New York 1836. Nota bene Alexander was a father of Ronald Mackenzie, Civil War general and later a commanding cavalry officer in the Indian Wars.

More  equestrian  topics from  ''A Year in Spain" in the future.

Valete 

Jean-Victor Adam - equestrian life in his art

 Salvate Omnes,

 

I would like to bring to your attention the art of Jean Victor Adam (1801-66AD) who was bron and active during the tumultuous years of French history - from Empire to kingdom, to republic to Empire in one lifetime - and all his time this was the time of horses (naturally, the steam age was coming fast - with trains and steamships and machines operating in full by  his middleage maturity).

Jean-Victor was a very skilled, versatile artist, and very knowledgeable as to the equine anatomy, types, races and works or adventures with horses, and also skilled in telling stories, anecdotes or historical events.
 

Anyway, you can peruse his gallery as corralled at Wiki Commons - and out of many of his prints  this one comes to my attention, aptly  titled 'The pleasures of horseback riding.'
oj, haven't you experienced some of them in your riding epic ? - :)

and these illustrations from various books are enjoyable - monsieur could have drawn comic books had he lived in the XX century

and the end of the road for the horse of Jean-Victor days - abattoir and local butcher shop, since famous French cuisine always  included and still includes horse meat.

Valete

Antonin Mercié - equestrian sculpture etc

Salvete Omnes,
 
a short entry - it is all abut the beauty and our need for beauty in our public spaces and daily lives as defined by Roger Scruton , for we live in the age of barbarians and critical theorists of post-culture hogwash, their children being ISIS & Taliban in the Middle East and Central Asia or BLM, anarchists or Antifa(and hwho knows who else?) of the present protests and riots in US and UK.
as least in France, where they have had enough of riots and protests and barbarian destruction like lately in Dijon, they declared that nobody will be removing any sculptures that are part of their history and heritage.

ad rem,

on the fabulous art of Antonin Mercie - a French sculptor, disciple of Alexandre Falguière and François Jouffroy, famous French artists.
With Jean-Marie Mengue, Laurent Marqueste, Victor Segoffin, Auguste Seysses, and some others  he was part of the art group ''lesToulousains.''
so below please find some of his works -  there is wiki gallery with many more photos-








 
 


on the general Robert Lee's monument I will do another post

Gloria Victis

Valete