Catalogue 109 is out now!
Jacob Bates. The Famous English Horse Rider. Der berhumte Englishe Berieter Jacob Bates. Jeaque Bates Fameux Piquer anglois. G. P. Nusbeigel, ad viv. del et sculpsit. Norib 1766. Extremely scarce engraving, 18th century watermark. 375 x 480mm (14¾ x 19"). Engraver's text weakly inked, margin notched lower left, slight creasing in right margin. Small margins. Jacob Bates, an eighteenth century English equestrian performer, was one of the first showmen to make a mark as an entertainer. Although his emulators (Price, Johnson, Balp, Coningham, Faulkes, and 'Old' Sampson), had become fixtures of London's pleasure gardens, it does not appear that Bates ever performed in England. Instead he based himself in the German States, but performed as far away as Russia (1764-65) and America (1772-73). This portrait was drawn and engraved in Nuremberg in 1766 by Georg Paul Nusbeigel, showing him standing proudly by his horse, with more portraits of Bates various stunts on one,...