German (or Dutch School) Late 18th Century. A charming pair of Primitive watercolour portraits of Ladies on horseback. Circa 1780.
The lady on the brown horse indistinctly inscribed (along the lower edge); the lady on the grey is indistinctly inscribed 'Princess Wei...von ?' (in the centre of the lower edge) pen, ink, watercolour and wash with gold heightening on laid paper each 32.3 x 21.7cm (12 11/16 x 8 9/16in). Some age related staining and edge damages all to no real detriment.
Both ladies are shown wearing breast stars of the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle. Founded by Friedrich I of Prussia in 1701, this was the premier order throughout Germany (on a par with the Garter) and only had a very small and very exclusive number of knights. It was also always awarded as a matter of course to the Queens of Prussia and their first-born daughters. There are two portraits in the Stadsarchiefdelft of Willem V of Holland and Wilhelmina of Prussia by the same hand, one of which is signed G vd Storm.