North Italian School, circa 1600–20

This portrait shows a gentleman of means, perhaps a high ranking officer, wearing an incredibly elaborate gilded and etched breastplate typical of those produced by Milanese armourers of the late-sixteenth and early-early seventeenth centuries. No expense has been spared on the glistening gilded decoration, in which vertical bands of intricately painted trophies of arms, musical instruments and classical figures can seen decorating the surface of the metal. The addition of a fixed lance rest, which is seen folded up in this particular instance, is suggestive that this was an armour made for both cavalry and possibly tournament use. The helmet, with its tiers of flamboyant plumes, is typical of decoration worn at combats at the barriers, an elaborate chivalric sport that was still widely practiced in Italy and Europe into the early-seventeenth century.¹ Such armours were incredibly costly, and its appearance in a portrait is suggestive that this harness was of great importance to the sitter. Despite the lavish details in this portrait, the lack of a gorget (an essential and specific plate that is used to protect the throat), suggests that its arrangement here was purely ornamental rather than being an accurate depiction of how it would have been worn on the field or tiltyard.

¹ S. Anglo, 'The Barriers: From Combat to Dance (Almost)', in Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, vol. 25, no. 2, 2007, pp. 91–106.