Considering the price of these miniatures etc, perhaps it would be beneficial to all afficionados and miniature art hobbists if these 'historical' figures, once released by a respective producing company, would have on that manufaturer' websites some additional info about the sources used by the sculptors and painters for the particular sculpture and other useful info - eg. links to artworks depicting etc. After all the hobby is fast becoming expensive...
In my opinion this otherwise beautiful and amazing sculpture, Pegaso's Renaisance knight of the 15th century, as portrayed here belongs to the masquerade or some other Carnival parade of the 16th century or later (could be 2005) rather than the 15th century armouries (where cosumes could have been made out of wood, paper, leather etc and natuarally quite beautiful.
In fact, this type of 'antique-ed' armour (alla romana or all'antica) developed in the 16th century by some amzingly skilled and tallented Italian master-armourers (NY Metropolitan Museum of Art some 7 years ago had an exibit on these decorative armours and there is a book: Heroic Armor of the Italian Renaissance Filippo Negroli and His Contemporaries, by Stuart W. Pyhrr and José-A. Godoy, with essays and a compilation of documents by Silvio Leydi, 1998. I saw the exibit and remember that the armor was blacked and blued, with gold and silver etc ornamentation).
MET website -
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rarm/hd_rarm.htm and the infor from there - 'During the Renaissance, some of the most sumptuous swords, maces, firearms, shields, and armor were made specifically for ceremonial purposes. Such armor was sometimes referred to as armor all'antica or alla romana. These objects were intended to imitate arms and armor of the style used by the heroes of classical antiquity and medieval chivalry. Worn or carried in processions or at court, they were designed to bestow upon the wearer the glory and fame, virtues and achievements of those antique military leaders, who Renaissance princes and commanders sought to emulate. Since these accoutrements were not intended to face the risk of damage or loss in battle, many of the functional and protective qualities of "normal" arms and armor—lightness, practicality, and the "glancing surface"—had been abandoned in favor of theatrical and symbolical effect.'
and some on Negroli - from the same site -In Italy, between about 1530 and 1560, embossed armor (17.190.1720) reached its artistic peak with works by the famous Italian workshop of Filippo Negroli of Milan. Together with his brothers and a cousin, he produced parade armor in the all'antica style for the most illustrious clientele of European nobility, exquisitely embossed with figural and floral decoration, and often etched and gilded, or damascened and encrusted with gold and silver. Shields for ceremonial use were made either from wood and painted with elaborate mythological or historical scenes (42.50.16), or—when made of metal—embossed and decorated (34.85) in the same style as the armor they accompanied. The high standards set by the Negroli workshop were emulated (though never quite reached again) until the very end of the sixteenth century, with ceremonial armor for man and horse continuing to be decorated in the all'antica style (39.121; 04.3.217; 22.140).
Additionally, very few real suites of armor of this type surived -less then a dozen - and they do look very different from this costume.
Additional book:
Hayward, John F. "The Revival of Roman Armour in the Renaissance". In Art, Arms, and Armour: An International Anthology, vol. 1: 1979-80 pp. 144-163.
Some references on the net: -http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_16c_armour.html
http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=520
http://www.karlofgermany.com/lmaster.htm
http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/fea...ern11-17-98.asp
I hope the content of this post is not taken out of its context - as I firmly believe that this miniature is very lovely and definitely, once painted, a gem in anyone's collection of miniature sculptures. And you can call it any name you want - after all a name is but a name
. But a bit of knowledge never hurt anyone
.
Dario
