THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART CATALOGUE DEP& 3 0620 00691 THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART « H'EVRGKMAIR. HISTORICAL ARMOR A PICTURE BOOK THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART HISTORICAL ARMOR A PICTURE BOOK *« NEW YORK i 9 5 i COPYRIGHT BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 1946 PRINTED IN AN EDITION OF 2,500 COPIES, IO44, REPRINTED IN A SECOND EDITION OF 5,000 COPIES, IO46, REPRINTED IN A THIRD EDITION OF 5,000 COPIES, 1951. DRAKE-TRIUNE COMPANY, NEW YORK HISTORICAL ARMOR 'Apres la mort bone renomee demvree" (A good name lives after death). Inscription on the sarcophagus of Galiot de Genouilhac. N the Armor Galleries, as in few places woodcut by Hans Burgkmair1 reproduced on elsewhere, the historic past takes on move­ the cover shows the equestrian figure of the I ment and color, and one's imagination Emperor Maximilian I wearing a new style of leaps back to the days when armor made one armor. Discarding slenderness and grace of man the master of many. The splendid har­ outline, the new style sacrificed the lines of nesses that one sees here were worn in battle, height for those of breadth and was orna­ in the joust, and in stately pageants. They are mented with rows of fluting. This fashion masterpieces of metalwork, made for leaders seems to have come from Milan. It is inter­ who had at their command the services of great esting to recall that the "milliner" of the ;u tists. During the Renaissance, there was a present day was originally the Milaner, so close relationship between painters, sculptors, called, from Milan, in Italy, which at this time goldsmiths, and armorers, and often the same gave the law to Europe in all matters of armor artist worked in all these fields. An armorer and dress. Maximilian inherited the duchy of was actually a sculptor in steel whether we con­ Milan and so introduced the Milanese style sider his work from the viewpoint of the shap­ into Germany. Kings and princes have always ing of the plates or of their surface decoration: been fashion makers, and as Maximilian was witness the helmet of Francis I (fig. 3), which actively interested in the making of fluted is embossed in high relief, a technique closely armor, this type has in modern times been related to that of the sculptor. Many of the named after him. leading artists also made designs for armor. Our earliest historical harness is of Maxi­ \ sketch by Albrecht Dürer, in the Morgan milian type (fig. 13). It came from the armory Library, shows one of his designs for the silver of the Teutonic Order at Königsberg, in harness which the Augsburg armorer Koloman Prussia, and is attributed to Frederick of Sax- Colman began for the Emperor Maximilian I <>n\ (1474-1510), who was Grand Master of in 1517. Koloman. who also made the armor the order from 1498 to 1510. From 1466 to of Frederick of Saxony (fig. 13), spent his early 1526 Grand Masters of the order ruled in East years in the shadow of his brilliant father, Prussia as vassals of Poland. This harness, Lorenz, with whom Hans Burgkmair the Elder which is part of a suite that cotdd be worn collaborated in executing armor for Maxi­ at court, in the joust, or in the field, is of milian. It was not long, however, before Kolo- bright steel, embossed, etched, and gilded to man's reputation spread. He, too, worked for represent the puffings and slashings in the Maximilian and for the Emperor Charles V. eccentric dress of the period, and etched to It is known that the artist Daniel Hopfer imitate the gold brocade garments worn under (1470-1536) collaborated with the Colmans in the armor. The visor is embossed to represent designing and decorating armor, and there is the face of a man with an aquiline nose and a reason to believe that some of the Museum's moustache terminating in balls that are skill- armor was etched in Hopfer's workshop. fullv forged in one piece with the rest of the Each of the objects shown in this picture visor. On the exchange breastplate of this book is a potential teacher of history. The annoi, which is in the Historical Museum in Dresden, are etched the initials of a device, 'The first state is dated 1508. The print reproduced and the cross bestowed by Pope Celestin III here is the seventh state, printed from the outline hlock only; Dodgson, II, 76, 15 (vii). on the Teutonic Knights of the Church of the Holy Virgin in Jerusalem; in the central shield the Chief Victories of the Emperor Charles V, superimposed on the cross appears the Prus­ which were engraved by Dirck Volkertsz. sian eagle. When Königsberg was captured by Coornhert and published by Hieronymus Cock Soult, one of Napoleon's marshals, in 1808, ol Antwerp in 1556; a set of the prints is in the contents of the armory were scattered; later 1 IK Metropolitan Museum. A pair of tassets the elements of Frederick's armor were for a (see lit;. 20) belongs to a harness made for the time in the possession of Prince Radziwill of emperor by the Augsburg armorer Matthäus Nieswiez, Poland. Frauenpreis (Frawenbrys). They are embossed, In Poland—a passageway between the East etched, and gilded, with a griffin segreant and the West—there have always been wars, and the column of Hercules, surmounted by and always the Princes Radziwill have marc hed emblems of the Order of the Golden Fleece— with their retainers to battle. From the ances- Ine steels and flint stones emitting sparks. 'I he tral armory of the Rad/iwills are elements of gl iffin is associated with the imperial arms and a rare etched and gilded puffed and slashed as a symbol in heraldry expresses strength and armor of about 1525 which was probabl) made vigilance. The column of Hercules may be for Prince George I | 1 ($0-1541), surname d the considered an allusion to the extension of \ ie torious or the Lithuanian Hercules. These Spanish dominion to America (transplanting comprise a backplate with its hoguine (buttock the columns of Hercules) where the emperor's defense) and sleeves (fig. 14). The latter imi­ conquistadors were active. The fire steels and tate the wide pulled sleeves that were com­ Hints are intended to admonish the knights pressed to form a cushion when worn uncle 1 of the order that, steeled by the strength of armor. The slightly recessed ornament of the religion, they should protect and defend the etched pattern represents the slashes intro­ Christian Church with fiery zeal. A pate duced into contemporary costume in simula­ defense (fig. 19) made in 1549 as part of a tion of wounds, to indicate the valor of the harness for the Archduke of Austria, later the wearer. The etched design enriching this armor Emperor Maximilian II, is by the same Augs­ appears in two woodcuts—one showing it on burg armorer. The armor belongs to the costume, the other on armor—by David de Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Draw­ Necker, who evidently copied them from draw­ ings for the decoration of this armor, includ­ ings dating about 1525. ing the pate defense, appear in the sketch book It is well known that the most distinguished of the Augsburg etcher Jörg Sorg, preserved armorers of Italy, Germany, and Spain flour­ in the Library at Stuttgart. ished under the patronage of the Emperor The finest horse armor in the Museum is Charles V, who was an excellent soldier. A shown in figure 16. It is embossed and etched, parade helmet and a shield (figs. 9, 10), of and in addition to the date 1548 bears the steel, embossed, damascened, gilded, and sil­ guild mark of Nuremberg, the initials of its vered, from the collection of Prince George original ducal owner, and letters standing for Fugger of Augsburg, are associated with this the pious inscription, "I trust in God with all emperor. When armor was worn for pageantry my heart, Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxony." rather than for battle, its decoration had to This inscription recalls the armor's proven­ reflect the spirit of the occasion. Our shield ance, the Wartburg, where Luther was brought represents the surrender of John Frederick, for safety in 1521 at the instance of Frederick Elector of Saxony, to Charles V after the battle the Wise, Elector of Saxony, an uncle of of Mühlberg in 1547, in which the Lutherans Johann Ernst, and where he completed his were defeated. The design is copied after a translation of the New Testament. The fact drawing by Martin van Heemskerck, signed that the date and the initials of the original and dated 1554, in the British Museum. This owner are prominently displayed would indi­ was one of the series of twelve drawings, called cate that the armor was made for an impor- tant occasion. This may well have been the and gilded half-armor from the workshop of diet called at Augsburg in 1548 by the Emperor the Augsburg armorer Anton Peffenhauser. Charles V, after which the Interim, intended Peffenhauser was descended from a family of to reconcile the Lutherans with the Catholic silversmiths and was a neighbor of Desiderius Church, was proclaimed. At this important Colman, imperial armorer. Christian I, who diet the princes of the realm appeared in reigned only five years, was succeeded bv armor, for it was a geharnischte Reichstag. Christian II (1583-1611). The latter's State The armor for man mounted with the horse Guard is represented by a gracefully modeled panoply wras worn by a member of the house helmet (fig.