The life of a Hungarian hussar

Hoechle, Johann Nepomuk / Kriehuber, Josef. Sechs Momente aus dem Leben eines ungarischen Husaren. Egy Magyar Húszár hat Nevezetes Életvonása.

€ 9.500,00

The life of an Hungarian hussar in full colour: rare, complete set of the splendidly coloured plates prepared by Johann Nepomuk Hoechle (1790-1835), one of the most prolific painters of military themes of his time, lithographed by Josef Kriehuber (1800-76), an artist particularly famous for his high-quality lithographic portraits. The appealing scenes illustrate key events in the career of an Hungarian hussar, beginning with recruitment, showing the young man carousing with his recruiters, drink in hand. The plates further depict exercising on horseback, a night-time ambush, and an action-packed battle scene captioned "a heroic deed", showing the hussars triumphing over bayonet-wielding enemies set against a smoke-filled sky and a town ablaze with fire. In the last two scenes the young hussar is decorated by the Emperor on the battlefield before returning home to his family, who are eager to examine his medal of honour.

Some light surface soiling and creasing, small ink stain to upper cover. A well-preserved specimen of military art, and an homage to the Hungarian hussars.