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Design for the Breastplate of a Suit of Armor

Copy after Etienne Delaune
ca. 1576
Not on view
This study is a copy (in reverse) of a model drawing (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) by Étienne Delaune for the right front breastplate of the Emperor Harness, a suit of parade armor made for King Henry II of France (r. 1547-59) about 1555 (on view in the Arms and Armor Gallery 374, 39.121a-n). Trained as a goldsmith, Delaune produced designs for prints, book illustrations, coins, medals, jewelry, and armor, serving as an engraver to Henry II in the Royal Mint. The ornamental design, with animals and figures intertwined among foliate motifs recalls the School of Fontainebleau. Such a study was intended to serve as a life-size model for armorers and goldsmiths who executed elaborate harnesses. The Lehman sheet is similar in style to a group of armorial drawings made in Augsburg in the late sixteenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Design for the Breastplate of a Suit of Armor
  • Artist: Copy after Etienne Delaune (Augsburg, 16th century)
  • Date: ca. 1576
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink with light blue wash
  • Dimensions: 10 13/16 x 8 3/16 in. (27.5 x 20.8 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.259
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Design for a round hand mirror
After Etienne Delaune (French, Orléans 1518/19–1583 Strasbourg) (?)
16th century (?)
Arithmetic, from a set of allegories of the arts and sciences with grotesque motifs on black grounds
Etienne Delaune (French, Orléans 1518/19–1583 Strasbourg)
before 1573
Mars, from a set of six pagan divinities with grotesques on black grounds
Etienne Delaune (French, Orléans 1518/19–1583 Strasbourg)
before 1573
Music, from a set of allegories of the arts and sciences with grotesque motifs on black grounds
Etienne Delaune (French, Orléans 1518/19–1583 Strasbourg)
before 1573
Minerva, from a suite of ornament designs with grotesques and deities
Etienne Delaune (French, Orléans 1518/19–1583 Strasbourg)
before 1559

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