Imperial Armoury

This all’antica garniture for man and horse is one of the most elaborate sixteenth-century armours extant. It was made for Alessandro Farnese, son of Ottavio Farnese and Margaret of Parma, an illegitimate daughter of Emperor Charles V. The garniture was produced by a Milanese armourer, possibly Lucio Piccinino, and the designs are by Andrea Casalini, a goldsmith working for the court in Parma. Ten of Casalini’s detailed preparatory drawings for the garniture have survived and are now in Paris, New York, Hamburg, and Vienna. Sources suggest the garniture was ordered not by Alessandro but by his father, Ottavio.

The ensemble has survived almost intact. It consists of a cuirass with reinforcing pieces for the left shoulder (for jousting) and a bard with chanfron and saddle. A stylistically divergent oval shield, a burgonet, and a mace complete the garniture.

Alessandro Farnese succeeded John of Austria (Don Juan de Austria) as governor of the Spanish Netherlands following the latter’s death in October 1578. At the time – in 1577/78 – Archduke Ferdinand II was corresponding about receiving armour that had belonged to these two relatives, asking for the ‘dispatch of armour that had belonged to Master John of Austria as well as one that had belonged to Prince Alessandro Farnese’ (weillendt Herrn Don Johann von Österreich Leibharnisch sowohl auch des Prinzen von Parma Alexander Farneß haraufzeschicken).

It seems that both armours finally arrived at Innsbruck in January 1580 (see cat. 67). At Ambras Castle the garniture was displayed in the second armoury, where it was described in 1596 as ‘an impressive armour for man and horse made for the Duke of Parma … on the head a harpy, silver and gilt’ (ain stattliche rüstung auf dem rosz vom herzog von Parma … auf dem kopf ain Harpia, so silbern und vergult).

Mikolaj IV ‘the Black’ Radziwiłł was a powerful sixteenth-century LithuanianPolish statesman. He was one of the closest, most trusted advisors to Sigismund II August, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Sigismund II made Radziwiłł Grand Hetman and Grand Lithuanian Chancellor, as well as Voivode of Vilnius and thus the de facto ruler of the grand duchy. Emperor Charles V raised him to the rank of Imperial Prince. Radziwiłł played a seminal role in spreading the Reformation in Lithuania and Poland. He was instrumental in publishing the Brest Bible (also known as the Radziwiłł Bible), the first Protestant translation of the Scriptures into Polish, printed in the Lithuanian city of Brest in 1563. However, his son, Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł, returned to the fold of the Catholic Church.

The half-armour made for Mikolaj IV Radziwiłł was first recorded in the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II in 1593. The inventory compiled of the archduke’s estate in 1596 describes it as ‘a half-armour, the ground etched white, onto which gilt and red-and-white strapwork has been etched, together with his burgonet’ (ain halbe rüstung, der grund weisz geeczt, darauf vergulte auch rott vnd weisse züg geeczt, sambt seiner sturmbhauben). Its surface is lavishly decorated with strapwork that has been fire-gilt, with some bands painted red, white, or black. Remnants of the original red straps and lining survive.

The armour was probably produced by Kunz Lochner, an armourer active in Nuremberg. The polychrome all-over decoration is unusual for German armour but presumably reflects the taste of the patron who ordered it. This half-armour was originally part of a garniture for field and tournament. Some of its pieces, originally housed in the armoury at Nieśwież Palace, the ancestral home of the Radziwiłł family, are now in Paris and New York.

This armour, one of the most elegant ever produced, is the result of the successful collaboration between an armourer and a goldsmith, both anonymous. The surface was blued and then embellished with threedimensional decorative gilt gunmetal bands. The latter feature a wealth of motifs, including mythological figures, animals, masks, fruit, floral garlands, and putti. Note around the neck on the breastplate the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The then nineteen-year-old Maximilian had been invested with this elite order of chivalry in 1546.

The armour was originally part of a small garniture, of which a partially preserved half-armour also survives. A Spanish kettle hat (capacete) and a round shield belonging to the half-armour are also now in Vienna; the rest was presumably lost during the Napoleonic Wars in the early nineteenth century. Breastplate and backplate with bevor are now in Dresden (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Rüstkammer), and a left gauntlet is in New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Pauldrons, rerebraces and vambraces, tassets, and the saddle have not survived. Stylistically, the Blue-and-Gold Armour is closely related to the field armour from the Fluted Garniture (inv. A 534), which was produced more or less at the same time, also for Maximilian II.

In the early eighteenth century, this armour from the Blue-and-Gold Garniture was repeatedly repurposed in portraits of Emperor Charles VI. We may assume that the emperor was trying to reference the reign of his eponymous ancestor, Emperor Charles V, to emphasize his claim to the Spanish crown, which he had been forced to relinquish following the War of the Spanish Succession (1700–14).

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba, was a brilliant Spanish general and statesman. He served Emperor Charles V and his son Philip II, King of Spain as governor of Milan (1555/56), viceroy of Naples (1556–58), governor of the Spanish Netherlands (1567–73), and viceroy of Portugal (1580–82). Alba was infamous for his brutal efforts to suppress the Protestant Dutch Revolt during his tenure as governor of the Spanish Netherlands. His merciless persecution of the rebels as heretics and traitors and the venality of his troops during the capture of Dutch cities (for instance, the 1572 Massacre of Naarden) is reflected in his soubriquet ‘Iron Duke’. He was, however, ultimately unable to suppress the uprising, and the immense costs of his campaigns led to him being recalled in 1573.

With the help of Hans of Khevenhüller, the imperial ambassador to Spain, this armour of the Duke of Alba was gifted to Archduke Ferdinand II for the collection he was forming at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck. In December 1576, Alba himself wrote to Ferdinand that he had ‘worn this armour on his body long ago during the German War’ (so wir jn lang verschinen jaren in der teutschen kriegs expedition und vhede an unserm leib gefuert), that is, in 1546/47 during the war against the Schmalkaldic League. The armour is decorated with bands of gilt and etched dots. Note the duke kneeling before a crucifix on the breastplate. On the backplate the armour shows a depiction of Saint Barbara with her attribute, the tower.

The armour was once part of a garniture that also included a field armour. Two portraits by Antonis Mor have survived that show the duke wearing parts of this garniture – one now in New York (The Hispanic Society of America) and the other in Brussels (Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts). A copy from the later sixteenth century is in the Royal Armouries in Leeds, England.

Kaiser Ferdinand I. bestellte 1548 für seinen ältesten Sohn Maximilian eine große Harnischgarnitur. Anlass für diesen Auftrag war mutmaßlich die bevorstehende Wahl Maximilians zum König von Böhmen. Ferdinand konnte diese Wahl nach der massiven Schwächung der böhmischen Stände durch den kaiserlichen Sieg über die protestantischen Reichsfürsten 1547 in der Schlacht von Mühlberg ohne Schwierigkeiten durchsetzen.

Ausgeführt wurde diese Garnitur vom Augsburger Plattner Matthäus Frauenpreiß d. Ä. Die geätzte und vergoldete Verzierung ist ein Werk des ebenso in Augsburg arbeitenden Harnischätzers Jörg Sorg d. J. Die heute als Königsgarnitur Maximilians II. bekannte Garnitur bestand einst aus einer Vielzahl an Einzelstücken. Diese ließen sich im Baukastensystem für verschiedene Zwecke zusammenstellen, so etwa für die Verwendung zu Pferd und zu Fuß, für den Krieg und für mehrere Varianten des Turniers.

Die beiden vorliegenden Harnische sind die wichtigsten erhaltenen Teile dieser Garnitur. Sie waren beide für das Turnier vorgesehen, für den Fußkampf (mit Rock, Inv.-Nr. B 73) und für das Stechen (Inv.-Nr. A 610). Weitere Einzelteile finden sich nach den Verlusten der kaiserlichen Rüstkammer während der napoleonischen Zeit heute in einer Reihe von Museen, so etwa in New York, Baltimore, Paris, St. Petersburg, Florenz und London.

Die beiden Harnische (Inv.-Nrn. A 610, B 73) stammen aus der Wiener kaiserlichen Rüstkammer, wo der Fußkampfharnisch 1678 als »weißer khüriß mit vergulten strichen und einen khempfschurz, ein ganz helmblin mit ein gätterten vißier« beschrieben ist. Beigegeben war ihm damals eine »kleine lewenhaut und ein zerfreßne bißemkaz heütl«. 1750 gelangten die Harnische ins kaiserliche Zeughaus in der Renngasse, wo der Fußkampfharnisch im Kaisersaal als Harnisch Kaiser Ferdinands II. präsentiert wurde.

Konrad of Boyneburg, also known as Konrad of Bemelberg, from 1554 Baron of the Holy Roman Empire, was a soldier all his life and saw action in numerous campaigns. Most of his great victories (and defeats) were in the service of the Habsburgs. For instance, in 1525 he fought in the Battle of Pavia for Emperor Charles V, and in 1557 in the Battle of St Quentin for King Philip II of Spain, both decisive Habsburg victories over France. But Boyneburg was also involved in the infamous Sack of Rome, the pillaging of the Eternal City by mutinous imperial troops in 1527, during the War of the League of Cognac.

Boyneburg commissioned this light field cuirass a decade or so after the Sack of Rome. It has survived intact, except for the now lost gauntlets, and is a typical example of a type of light armour for cavalrymen common during Boyneburg’s lifetime. The close helmet has been replaced by a burgonet and the cuisses extend only to the knees, allowing the general to lead his men both on horse and an foot.

The armour was produced by Wolfgang Grossschedel, an armourer from Landshut in Bavaria. We can attribute the etched decoration to Ambrosius Gemlich, whose monogram, AG, is visible on the breastplate below the two medallions featuring heads of classical heroes. The breastplate is decorated with a large picture of a Landsknecht keeling at the foot of a crucifix, framed by the inscription HILF. HER. AM. KREICZ (‘Help, Lord on the Cross’).

A posthumous portrait by Petrus Dorisy of Boyneburg wearing this armour (dated 1582) is also now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (Picture Gallery, inv. 3849).

The armour was in the Armoury of Heroes at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck. In the 1596 inventory it is described as: ‘Conrad of Bemelberg. A white halfharness with gilt etched lines together with its burgonet’ (Conrad von Bemelberg. Ain weisz halbs harnisch mit vergulten geeczten strichen sambt seiner sturmhauben).

This armour was first listed in the 1678 inventory of the imperial armoury, then housed at Stallburg Palace in Vienna. Displayed in vitrine no. 22, it was described as ‘a chased black cuirass, made in Paris, gilt, with images’ (ein getribener schwarzer khyriß, welcher zu Paris gemacht worden, vergolt, mit bildern) and shown with ‘a tiger skin lined with yellow taffeta’ (ein tügerhaut mit gelben daffet gefuedert). In 1750, it was moved to the imperial arsenal on Renngasse in central Vienna, where it was erroneously displayed as armour made for Emperor Rudolf II. When the arsenal was closed in the midnineteenth century, the armour was moved to the K. K. Artillerie-ArsenalMuseum (today the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum), where it was regarded as the museum’s most valuable object. Only in the 1940s was Bruno Thomas, curator and later director of the Imperial Armoury, able to prove that the armour dates from the mid-sixteenth century and attribute it to Archduke (later Emperor) Maximilian II.

Until the 1930s, the armour was regarded as the work of a German armourer, possibly from Munich. Thomas attributed it instead to Eliseus Libaerts, who was mainly active in Antwerp. However, the handling of the repoussé work and some of the figures suggest it was produced in Paris. The 1678 inventory mentioned above supports this attribution, because it describes the harness as ‘made in Paris’ (zu Paris gemacht). This lavishly embellished armour was presumably a gift from Henry II, King of France, for the young Archduke Maximilian.

By the middle of the sixteenth century, Classicizing parade armour either imitated sculpted Roman muscle cuirasses or opted for all-over chased depictions of Classical scenes. Maximilian’s armour depicts the Labours of Hercules; see, for example, Hercules and Antaeus on the front pauldrons, or, on the breastplate, Hercules leaning on his club.

Emperor Maximilian I ordered this spectacular ceremonial armour in 1512 for his twelve-year-old grandson Archduke Charles (later Emperor Charles V). Konrad Seusenhofer, the emperor’s court armourer at Innsbruck, began work on the armour in March 1512, completing it in the spring or summer of 1513.

The armour was probably commissioned in connection with the planned marriage of Charles to Mary Tudor, a sister of King Henry VIII of England. In the summer of 1513, Henry and Maximilian went to war against France. The treaties cementing this alliance were signed during the elaborate victory celebrations held at Tournai and Lille in October 1513. The wedding was scheduled for the spring of 1514 at Calais (then held by the English); ultimately, however, intrigues and shifting political alliances put paid to the betrothal.

In a highly sophisticated way, the armour plays with the contrasts in materials between steel and fabric. It comprises a field harness with fashionably puffed and slashed arm and leg pieces and creates the illusion that the young archduke is wearing a surcoat, a pleated overcoat and a close-fitting jerkin with short, voluminous sleeves. The surcoat is also made of steel and is embellished with gilt steel ‘braids’ featuring the emblems of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

In the early seventeenth century, this armour was owned by Archduke Charles, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Between 1618 and 1621 it was moved to Ambras Castle, together with a bard made for Emperor Frederick III in 1477 (inv. A 69) and a papal sword (inv. A 453).

In the sixteenth century, this garniture for man and horse was in the collection assembled by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck, where it was installed in the so-called Armoury of Heroes to represent King Rupert I in a dynastic line of German emperors and kings. Rupert came to power in 1400 after the deposition of Wenceslaus of Luxembourg. The catalogue of the Armoury of Heroes at Ambras, the Armamentarium Heroicum, published in 1601–03, opines that Rupert was elected for ‘his virtues and great deeds’ (seiner selbst eignen tugenden und gewaltiger thaten halber).

Stylistically, however, the historical attribution of this garniture to King Rupert, who lived at the turn of the fifteenth century, is impossible. Wendelin Boheim, a curator of the Imperial Armoury in the nineteenth century, realized this mistake and attributed the garniture – stylistically equally impossible – to the king’s namesake, Rupert, Count Palatine who died in 1504.

The garniture is probably the work of Kolman Helmschmid, an armourer from Augsburg, and dates from the mid-1520s. It was presumably made for Ferdinand I, the younger brother of Emperor Charles V, in late 1526 or early 1527. This is suggested by the double-tailed lion rampant – the heraldic beast of Bohemia – on the chanfron. The small escutcheon above it is now empty but was presumably originally painted with the country’s crest.

The garniture is embellished with fire-gilt ornamentation on a blued ground. The bosses on the peytral are shaped like lions’ heads, the tail guard like a dragon. Remnants of original polychrome fringes, especially for the peytral, have also survived.

Geburtstage, Krönungen, Ordensverleihungen oder Hochzeiten boten einem Herrscherhaus schon immer Gelegenheit, sich selbst darstellen und verherrlichen zu lassen. Im Rahmen des Festes sollten den Gästen die Macht, der Reichtum und der Glanz des Fürstenhauses vorgeführt werden. Das Fest war nicht ein reiner Zeitvertreib, es hatte vielmehr eine die Herrschaft legitimierende und staatstragende Funktion. Wie Castiglione in seinem Cortegiano (1528) schreibt, ist der ideale Hofmann vor allem auch Kriegsmann. Daher gehört das Turnier auch noch im 16. Jahrhundert zum unverzichtbaren Bestandteil jedes Festes. Diese Große Reihengarnitur wurde wohl für die beiden älteren Söhne Kaiser Maximilians II., die Erzherzöge Rudolf und Ernst, geschaffen. Den Anlass bildete die Hochzeitsfeierlichkeit ihres Onkels Karl von der Steiermark mit Maria von Bayern 1571. Ganz im Sinne der Gegenreformation wurde dieses Bündnis der beiden katholischen Länder mit großem Pomp gefeiert. Für Kaiser Maximilian II. ist für diesen Anlass die Bestellung der berühmten Rosenblatt-Garnitur belegt; bei den Trägern der Flechtband-Garnitur handelt es sich wohl um die beiden zu diesem Fest eigens aus Spanien angereisten jugendlichen Erzherzöge Rudolf und Ernst. Die des Ätzmusters wegen als Flechtband-Garnitur bezeichnete Harnischserie besteht aus je drei in Dekor und Größe leicht unterschiedlichen, aber offensichtlich zusammengehörigen Harnischen zum Plankengestech, zum Fußturnier und zum Freiturnier. Der eine Halbharnisch der Brüder ist nach italienischem Typus asymmetrisch gebaut, der andere nach deutschem Muster symmetrisch. Die Harnische sind mit einem komplizierten, sich über die blanke Fläche ausbreitenden Muster aus verschlungenen Bändern und Hopfenblättern geschmückt. Das in Gold- und Schwarzätzung ausgeführte Flechtbandmuster kündigt in seinen sich regelmäßig wiederholenden Motiven das Textilien- oder Tapetenmustern vergleichbare Dekorationsschema des frühbarocken Prunkharnisches an.

In 1548, Emperor Ferdinand I ordered a large garniture for his eldest son, Maximilian. The reason for this commission was presumably Maximilian’s upcoming election as King of Bohemia. As the Bohemian estates were greatly weakened following the imperial victory over the Protestant princes in the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547, Ferdinand had no trouble forcing through the election of his son.

Matthäus Frauenpreiss the Elder, an armourer from Augsburg, was contracted to design and produce this garniture. Jörg Sörg the Younger, a specialist also working in Augsburg, executed the etched and gilt decoration. Known today as the Royal Garniture of Maximilian II, it comprises numerous individual pieces that could be assembled and configured as required – for combat on horse or on foot, for the field, or for different types of jousting.

These two armours are the most important extant pieces of this garniture. They were designed to be worn for combat on foot (incl. a tonlet, inv. B 73) and the tilt (inv. A 610) respectively. Additional pieces are now dispersed among various museums, including collections in New York, Baltimore, Paris, St Petersburg, Florence, and London. The two armours were housed in the imperial armoury in Vienna. In 1678, the armour for foot combat was described as a ‘white cuirass with gilt bands and a tonlet, a close helmet with a grill visor’ (weißer khüriß mit vergulten strichen und einen khempfschurz, ein ganz helmblin mit ein gätterten vißier). At the time it was displayed together with a ‘small lion skin and the moth-eaten skin of a muskrat’ (kleine lewenhaut und ein zerfreßne bißemkaz heütl). In 1750, the two armours were moved to the imperial arsenal on Renngasse in central Vienna, where the armour for foot combat was erroneously displayed as made for Emperor Ferdinand II.

Charles of Austria, Margrave of Burgau and Count of Nellenburg and Hohenberg, was the second son born to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, and his morganatic first wife Philippine Welser. Because their mother was only the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Charles and his elder brother Andrew were titled ‘of Austria’ but were not made archdukes.

Charles decided to pursue a military career, at first in the Low Countries and from 1592 in Hungary, where he fought against the Ottomans and participated in the siege of Györ in 1597. He resided first at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck and then at Günzburg Castle in Swabia. His marriage to Sibylla of JülichCleve-Berg remained childless, but his mistress Elisa Ferrari bore him three children.

In 1582/83, Jakob Topf, Archduke Ferdinand’s court armourer at Innsbruck, delivered a series of armours to Ambras Castle, among them this double cuirass made for Charles of Burgau. For this he was paid 518 guilders in three instalments in 1583. The final instalment of 59 guilders ‘for work delivered’ (für gelieferte Arbeiten) was paid by the Tyrolian Hofkammer (central financial authority), together with the 64 guilders and 13 kreuzer due to the goldsmith Elias Stark. These payments were presumably related to this armour. It is dated 1582 and was formerly in the collection at Ambras Castle, where it was described as ‘a blued armour with damascene work in gold and silver’ (ain blaue angeloffne rüstung mit gold- und silbertauschierarbait); in the 1621 inventory it is listed as ‘blued and with beautiful inlays in silver and gold’ (mit silber und guldiner plaumacharbait schön eingelegt).

The armour is blued, edged with silver beads, and decorated with damascened bands in silver and gold featuring moresque plant motifs interspersed with gilt trophies and medallions showing fashionably dressed figures and mythological and Classical heroes.

Dieser Harnisch ist aus noch erhaltenen Teilen einer Garnitur aus dem Depot wiederhergestellt worden. Die Anwesenheit eines kurzen Achselkragens verrät, dass der Küriss mit Hilfe von Sturmhaube, Achselkragen und langen Handschuhen einst zum Trabharnisch umzubauen war. Viele der ursprünglich zu dieser Garnitur gehörenden Wechselstücke fehlen. Als Verzierung des Harnisches findet sich am oberen Brustrand eine Szene von Rittern und Landsknechten. Am Helm ist ein Ritter im Kampf mit einem Löwen dargestellt und auf der Brust sieht man einen vor dem Kreuz knienden gepanzerten Mann.