Ludi equestres. Das Thurnieren (The Tournament)

This print provides important visual evidence for the enduring favor shown by the German-speaking courts of eighteenth-century Europe for equestrian and martial activities originally developed during the Renaissance. Specifically, the print shows four horsemen practicing the course of the ring, a contest that required each of them to catch with the point of his lance a suspended ring while riding his horse at full speed.

Although the course of the ring was immensely popular across sixteenth-century Europe, and gradually supplanted hazardous jousts and other forms of mock combats, over the late eighteenth century it quickly became outmoded, except in the German-speaking world. The Latin and German titles of this print aptly celebrate this remarkable continuity by equating the equestrian games (Ludi equestres) of the eighteenth century with the venerable tournament (Das Thurnieren).