A nicely matted and framed print, hand colored, showing a British officer astride a rearing white horse on a grassy hilltop gesturing with his sword toward a camp of military conical tents in the distance. The condition is excellent. The colors are strong. The officer is identified in the title along the bottom, “LIEUT. GENl. SIR EIRE COOTE K.B. K.C. & M.P”

There were two generals named Eyre Coote, uncle and nephew. From the uniform style and rank this would be the younger (1762-1823.) He served in the American Revolution with the 37^th regiment, commanded by his uncle, followed by service in the French Revolutionary Wars, serving in the West Indies with distinction, and later in Holland, the Mediterranean, and Egypt. The “K.B.” reflects his status as a Knight of the Bath; the K.C. may reflect his status as a Knight of the Crescent (awarded to him by the Sultan) after his role in the taking of Alexandria; M.P. refers to his status as a member of parliament. His behavior became somewhat erratic during his career, however, and being judged eccentric, not mad, was dismissed from the service in May 1816 for “conduct unbecoming” after it was disclosed he had taken up flogging as a pastime at a boys’ school. It also lost him his Order of the Bath. We find no data on how this affected sales of the print. [sr] [ph:L]

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