Knight in Armour on a Charging Destrier by Fred Weekes (1834-1924). Date not known. Watercolour. 28.5 x 30.5 cm; frame 53 x 54 cm with Weekes's signature on the lower left. The label on the back bears the name of James Howell of Cardiff. This probably associates with the period when Weekes was working either at Cardiff Castle or at Insole Court, Llandaff, from the 1870s onwards, but since work at both continued for so long, dating this watercolour remains problematic. Photo reproduced with kind permission: © Halls.
This typically dynamic scene shows a knight leaning purposefully forwards as his warhorse charges. The knight's head is lowered and his eyes focused, his cape flying, the plume of his helmet streaming out. Since Weekes was an expert on medieval armour, we can be sure these details are authentic. The horse's tail streams back too, but his head is up and his ears flattened, so that the two living beings are almost as one as they face combat together.
This is typical of its period, with its medieval subject, its suggestion of a mission, its capture of spirited action, and, not least, its presentation of the symbiotic relationship between man and horse. — Jacqueline Banerjee
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Bibliography
Knight in Armour on a Charging Destrier. Halls. Web. 24 October 2025.
Created 24 October 2025