Triumphal finery: Mannerism in the art of Italian armour.(armor)

Of all the possessions of the sixteenth century nobleman, few spoke more eloquently of his wealth, taste and social standing than those that he wore. As the nominal if not actual head of his army, the message conveyed by his military attire was clearly as important to him as that conveyed by the finery that he wore at court. In an age conscious of the political value of costly pageantry, it was perhaps inevitable that competition should arise between rival rulers to appear in the richest and most impressive armours possible. Made in many cases for show father than actual use, such lavish works of art called for new levels of skill on the part of the armourer.

None rose to the challenge with greater distinction than the armourers of northern Italy who had been the international leaders in their craft from at least the fourteenth century. Among the earliest to succeed in exploiting the demand for elaborate parade armours was Filippo Negroli of Milan (c. 1510-79), later aided by his brothers, whose superlative skills and imaginative designs earned him the patronage of the Emperor Charles v, the French kings Francois I and Henri II and other prominent princes of the time. In 1998-99, following a thorough reappraisal of the works attributed to the Negroli family by Stuart W. Pyhrr and Jose-A. Godoy, and new archival research by Silvio Leydi, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, staged its landmark exhibition 'Heroic Armor and the Italian Renaissance: Filippo Negroli and his Contemporaries'. …

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