A man in full military dress sits upright on a dark brown horse, his gaze turned slightly to the left and his expression composed. He wears a large black bicorne hat trimmed with white, which casts a shadow over his forehead and frames his pale face. A blue sash crosses his chest, and several orders and decorations, including the Order of Saint Januarius, the Order of Charles III, and the Golden Fleece, are pinned to his uniform, their intricate forms rendered with precise, textured brushwork.

The horse, painted with a broad white blaze and a muscular build, moves forward with its right foreleg raised, its mane and tail painted in loose, energetic strokes that contrast with the more careful rendering of the rider's attire. A sword hangs at the man's side, its hilt and scabbard gleaming with metallic highlights, and a richly decorated saddle blanket drapes over the horse's back. The background is an open, atmospheric landscape, rendered in soft, hazy tones that recede into the distance, with only faint suggestions of trees and ground, giving the scene a sense of grandeur and isolation.

The paint surface varies from the smooth, precise handling of the decorations and facial features to broader, more expressive strokes in the background and horse's body, revealing the artist's confident technique. No secondary figures are visible in the painting; the rider and horse are alone against the landscape. The background features indistinct, misty shapes that suggest distant trees or foliage, rendered in muted greys and greens.

The lower left corner contains a dark, shadowed patch of earth, while the upper right corner is dominated by broad, pale brushstrokes that create a cloudy sky effect. Light falls from the left, illuminating the rider's face, the horse's chest, and the front of the horse's raised leg, while casting the right side of the figures into shadow. The paint in the background is applied in loose, swirling motions, with visible brush marks that contrast with the more defined lines outlining the horse's legs and the rider's uniform.