Watercolour and pencil sketch of Austrian dragoons on horseback and a fallen horse was executed in 1909 by important Austrian painter, sculptor and illustrator Ludwig Koch (1866 - Vienna - 1934).

Koch was known mainly as a horse and genre painter. He has long been a guest at the Spanish riding, and has recorded many lessons of high school and school jumps artistically. He also devoted himself to depictions of war history. He studied in the years from 1883 to 1891 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and was a pupil of Siegmund L ´anglais and August Eisenmenger. He then appeared with illustrations from the Austrian war history, so he received 1889 for the picture General cardboard home the Special School award. 1891 at the Vienna Annual exhibition he exhibited the painting Fire Baptism of the Dragoner Regiment Windisch-Grätz in the Battle of Kolin.

Even before 1914, Koch created portrait and uniform series of the Austro-Hungarian Army, many of which were reproduced on postcards. Its use in the Austro-Hungarian war press quarter was relatively short: after the entry of the Italian War, he was appointed as a war painter on 20 July 1915 at the request of the Southwest Front command, but had to be put out of the fall of the following year (20 October 1916) because of a kidney disease. [1] He also provided for the mathematical "Austro-Hungarian Wehrmacht in the World War", issued by the War Office, as well as for postcards the paintings. Even after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Koch of the old army devoted many works, but also created uniform representations for the Federal Army of the First Republic.

In addition to military subjects, scenes of the Wienertums and the imperial house (e.g. oil-painting Ride of the Archduke – heir Franz Ferdinand to maneuver at the 590. Art auction of the Dorotheum Wien, 1970) became the main themes of his genre painting. Koch gave out several landscape Sammelwerke and was illustrator of many hippologischer works. His best-known work is likely to be "the horsemanship in the picture". He was also a member of the so-called seven clubs, a group of artists formed mainly from architects (including Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich and Joseph Urban).

Literature: Prof.H.Fuchs "Österreichische Maler des 19. Jahrhunderts", Vienna, 1975 .

Inscription: signed and dated 1909, lower right.

Technique: watercoloured drawing on paper, fine antique gold-plated frame.

Measurements: unframed w 7 7/8" x h 6 1/8" (20 x 15,5 cm), framed w 12 7/8" x h 11 3/8" (32,7 x 29 cm).

Condition: very good.