Half-armour and Morion
Pompeo della Chiesa (?)
Milano, ca 1587
Steel, parcel-gilt, leather
Inv.-Nr. W 1001.5 a-i
From the Königliches Zeughaus of the Munich Residence
Gallery 18
Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1559–1617), Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg – a connoisseur who loved all that was splendid – probably commissioned this complete suit of armour in Milan on the occasion of his election to office in 1587. The Lombard capital surpassed all other European arms and armour producing centres during the latter half of the 16th century. Originally comprising about 40 pieces, the suit of armour was equipped with exchangeable and reinforcing parts needed for the various forms of court jousting, such as tilting, free jousting and jousting on foot. The dense overall pattern of the etched decoration is picked out for the most part in burnished gilt against the blackened ground of the armour.
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
