The Classical Riding Master: The Wilton House Collection commentary by Dorian Williams (Gently Used copy)

The fifty-five charming gouache pictures commisioned by the 10th Earl of Pembroke and reproduced here in full colour, show all the exercises of classical equestrianism in the eighteenth century, when the previously mainly utilitarian training of the horse was elevated into an art form comparable with ballet.

The paintings were painted by Xenophon Press author, Baron Reis d'Eisenberg ["The Art of Riding a Horse or Description of Modern Manege in all its Perfection" translated by Sherilyn Allen] , a renowned Riding Master in the Court of the Hapsburgs under Charles VI and Francis I, the particular charm of this unique and delightful set of pictures is that they are by and enthusiastic, dedicated and expert horseman who was also an enthusiastic buy amateur artist. The high-school movements are absolutely correct and the pictures enhanced by the delicate, romantic backgrounds against which the horses are placed.

Dorian Williams well-known for his commentaries on equestrian events, has written a lucid text to accompany the pictures, in which he describes the horses-which evidently came from many different parts of the world-the finer points of the exercises and the differences from present-day practice, and briefly traces the history of the equestrianism from the Greeks through the great days of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna to modern dressage.

Eisenbergs paintings were engraved by Picart to form the collection of illustrations use in his book dating from 1727 and now, available for the first time in Sherilyn Allen's translation.

With this unique and delightful set of pictures, this book makes a wonderful all color companion piece to Baron Reis d'Eisenberg's "The Art of Riding a Horse or Description of Modern Manege in all its Perfection" translated by Sherilyn Allen.

Gently Used hardback