French Military, Napoleonic era
The rider folds forward over a moving grey horse, making this one of the more unsettling Del Prado command figures. It depicts Auguste de Caulaincourt, whose death belongs to the struggle for Borodino’s great redoubt.
A red jacket stands out sharply above a pale grey horse. This Del Prado hussar officer is identified through Kellermann’s command, a useful connection that also requires care with a famous family name.
The green coat and compact mounted pose make this Del Prado chasseur easy to confuse with a guardsman. The reference identifies a French chasseur à cheval of 1805 without assigning him to the Imperial Guard.
Two large drums transform the outline of this mounted Mameluke. The pale horse, patterned drum coverings and raised sticks give the Del Prado figure a ceremonial character that stands apart from sabre-wielding cavalry.
The sweeping pale cloak gives this rider an unusual presence. His setting is the French Army of Africa on the eve of the Second World War, not the desert war suggested by a much later German association.
Yorktown is usually pictured through siege lines and surrender. This French hussar points across the river, to the mounted troops helping close another route out.
A blue coat and bearskin may seem unexpected for a French carabinier. The date explains the difference: this rider belongs to the corps before its famous armoured transformation.
The bearskin, dark horse and blue coat convey weight without a shining breastplate. This Guard cavalryman is a reminder that heavy cavalry was not defined by armour alone.
Ney lifts his hat above a pale horse, an open gesture in a portrait associated with one of the army’s hardest years. The 1812 date turns a marshal’s likeness into a story of endurance.
The rearing horse and shining breastplate make an immediate impression. The more interesting story lies behind the spectacle: heavy cavalry depended on control and cohesion as much as courage.
