The revival of interest in the Classical world during the Renaissance had a profound effect on the appearance of armor. Inspired by Roman examples, armor all’antica (in the antique style) was worn by Italian princes and condottieri (professional soldiers) as an evocation of ancient heroes and of a glorious military heritage. Although armor in Classical fashion was known in the fifteenth century, it was not until about 1530 that armorers began to make it in embossed steel. In raising the decoration to high relief, the steel plates were worked too thin to be of protective value. As a result, embossed armor served a purely ceremonial role, leaving the armorer free to fashion it into fantastic, often whimsical forms. Filippo Negroli of Milan (about 1510–1579) seems to have been the principal innovator of this style, and contemporaries judged his works to be masterpieces of sculpture. The Negroli workshop included Filippo’s brother Francesco, a specialist in damascening (the inlaying of gold and silver into iron or steel), and a cousin, Giovan Paolo. Among their patrons were the leading connoisseurs of the period, notably Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, kings Francis I and Henry II of France, and the dukes of Mantua and Urbino.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Burgonet
Date:ca. 1550
Geography:Milan
Culture:Italian, Milan
Medium:Steel, gold
Dimensions:H. 10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm); H. of comb 2 1/16 in. (5.3 cm); W. 8 3/16 in. (20.8 cm); D. 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm); Wt. 3 lb. 5 oz. (1502 g)
Classification:Helmets
Credit Line:Gift of William H. Riggs, 1913
Object Number:14.25.602
Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, London and Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, England (by 1824–d. 1848; by descent to his heir, Augustus Meyrick); Augustus William Henry Meyrick, London and Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, England (1848–at least 1869); [Alessandro Castellani, Paris, until at least 1879]; [Charles Stein, Paris, until 1886, his sale, Gallerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 10–14, 1886, for Fr. 6,400, to Riggs]; William H. Riggs, Paris (1886–1913; his gift to MMA).
London. South Kensington Museum. "The Meyrick Collection of Ancient Armour," 1869.
Gazette des Beaux-Arts. "La Collection Charles Stein." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Courrier Europeen, de L'Art et de le Curiosité, p. 119.
Unknown. "Rüstungen und Waffen." In Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut, fig. no. 11.
Meyrick, Samuel Rush. A Critical Inquiry into Antient Armour: As It Existed in Europe, but Particularly in England, from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of King Charles II, with a Glossary of Military Terms of the Middle Ages. Vol. III. 1st ed. London: Robert Jennings, London, 1824. p. 47, pl. LXVIII.
Meyrick, Samuel Rush, and Joseph Skelton. Engraved Illustrations of Antient [sic] Arms and Armour: From the Collection of Llewelyn Meyrick ... at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. Vol. I. Oxford: J. Skelton, 1830. pl. LXX, figs. 2–3.
Jolimont, François Gabriel Théodore Busset de, Jacques Gagné, and Caroline Naudet. Recueil d'objets d'art et de curiosités. Paris: C. Naudet, 1836–38. pl. 4.
Perrot, A.M., and s.n.??. Panoplie: Armes de Tous les Temps et de Tous les Peuples. Vol. 2. Paris, 1864–1865. p. 77, pl. L, fig. 18.
Victoria and Albert Museum and J. R. Planché. Catalogue of the Armour and Miscellaneous Objects of Art Known As the Meyrick Collection, Lent by Colonel Meyrick of Goodrich Court, Herefordshire and Exhibited at the South Kensington Museum. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1869. p. 39, no. 530.
Hôtel Drouot. Sculptures en ivoire du XIe au XVIe siècle. Paris: Hôtel Drouot, April 7–8, 1879. p. 38, no. 74.
Giraud, Jean-Baptiste. Les Arts Du Métal: Recueil Descriptif Et Raisonné Des Principaux Objets Ayant Figuré À L'exposition De 1880 De L'union Centrale Des Beaux-Arts. Paris: A. Quantin, 1881. pl. XXX.
Galerie Georges Petit and Charles Yriarte. Objets D'art, De Haute Curiosité Et D'ameublement. Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, May 10–14, 1886. p.36, no. 135.
Dean, Bashford. Handbook of Arms and Armor : European and Oriental, Including the William H. Riggs Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Gilliss Press, January 1915. pl. XXXV.
Dean, Bashford. Notes on Arms and Armor. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1916. p. 89, ill.
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Dean, Bashford. Handbook of Arms and Armor : European and Oriental, Including the William H. Riggs Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3rd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 1921. pl. XXXV.
Dean, Bashford, and Robert T. Nichol. Handbook of Arms and Armor : European and Oriental, edited by Stephen V. Grancsay. 4th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 1930. fig. 85.
Williams, Alan R. "The Steel of the Negroli." Metropolitan Museum Journal (1999), p. 118, figs. 54–55.
Williams, Alan. The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the Metallurgy of Armour in the Middle Ages & the Early Modern Period. History of Warfare, Vol. 12. Leiden: Brill, 2002. p. 244.
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