The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Object

Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department, 1904–1929

As part of a special Sunday at the Met program held in conjunction with the exhibition Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department, Donald J. La Rocca explains the founding and history of the department.

A zoologist by training, Bashfod Dean was for a time simultaneously a full professor at Columbia University, Curator of Fishes at the American Museum of Natural History, and Curator of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum. At the Met, he worked initially as a guest curator in 1904, when he was invited to install and catalog the Museum's first significant acquisitions of arms and armor. He continued on as honorary curator until joining the staff full time in 1912 as head of the newly created Arms and Armor Department, rapidly building the collection into one of international importance.

Dressing in Steel: Part One
(00:37:39) 662 views

Dressing in Steel: Part Two
(00:20:04) 263 views

A Visit to the Armor Galleries
(00:30:21) 4340 views

Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department, 1904–1929
(00:30:12) 225 views

The Art of Arms and Armor: Challenges of Research, Display, and Education
(00:33:09) 318 views

Curators, Collectors, and Dealers: The Growth of the Arms and Armor Collection, 1929 to the Present
(00:36:37) 205 views

Armor

Date:: ca. 1480
Culture:: German
Medium:: Steel
Classification:: Armor for Man
Credit Line:: Rogers Fund, 1904
Accession Number:: 04.3.293a-t

This artwork is not on display

Provenance

Ex colls.: Louis Carrand, Lyons; Frédéric Spitzer, Paris; Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino, ParisPreviously owned by Duc de Dino ; Previously owned by Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duc de Dino ; Previously owned by Frederic Spitzer ; Previously owned by Louis Carrand
See also
What
Metal (59,364)

Costume (41,678)

Iron and iron alloy (6,952)

Iron alloy (3,389)

Steel (3,119)

Armor (2,071)
Where
Europe (148,587)

Germany (15,865)
When
A.D. 1400-1600 (20,545)
In the Museum
Arms and Armor (13,084)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Central Europe (including Germany), 1400–1600 A.D.