Friday 7 March 2014

Military History Photo Friday: Moroccan Warriors

I'm still in a Moroccan frame of mind after my trip to Tangier, so here's a 19th century painting by  Eugene Delacroix showing Moroccan warriors practicing some maneuvers. The Moroccans prided themselves on their horsemanship and their ability to fire from horseback even at a gallop. Those long muskets they have are called mukahla. The long barrel helped make these homemade guns more accurate.

The mukahla was highly decorated, often with mother of pearl. If you want one, there are plenty of shops in Tangier's medina that will sell you "genuine antiques" at appropriate prices!

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

5 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

And I imagine they also come with a "genuine certificate of authenticity," right?

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

The artist knew how to bring life to the horses.

D.G. Hudson said...

Delacroix is another artist I saw at the Louvre. He influenced many other artists. This is a great action scene. Genuine antique rifles, eh? Sure. . .

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I am quite taken with the paintings of Eugene Delacroix. What did you think of the Marlene Dietrich movie, Morocco, if you have seen it?

Are you planning to see THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL?

Sean McLachlan said...

Sioux: They don't even bother.

Roland: We watched that movie just a couple of weeks ago! I found the script a bit bland, but Dietrich was steamy as usual. Hadn't heard of the Grand Budapest Hotel. I'll look it up.

Looking for more from Sean McLachlan? He also hangs out on the Civil War Horror blog, where he focuses on Civil War and Wild West history.

You can also find him on his Twitter feed and Facebook page.