Opening the text

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth centuryFfoulkes, Charles John

History

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century

Name: The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century
Author: Ffoulkes, Charles John

Ffoulkes, Charles John

Armor -- History; Armorers; Weapons -- History

The last entry in the Milanese Archives relating to Antonio
refers to his mines and furnaces in a letter to Bona di Savoia,
April 20th, 1480. In the MSS. Lib., Trivulziano, is a report of
the Venetian Embassy which came to Milan on its way to Germany,
written by Andrea de Francesca. This report states that Antonio’s
workshops were visited and armour was seen there to the value of
1000 ducats. He seems to have had a son Scabrino, but there are
no records of him as an armourer. Antonio died at the end of the
fifteenth century and is the last of the family who used the name
of Missaglia. His successors reverted to the family name of Negroni
or Negroli. The suit No. 3 in the Vienna Collection is stamped
with his mark (Plate II), and many helmets of the sallad type and
various pieces of armour bear a similar stamp in other armouries,
such as the Wallace Collection, the Porte de Hal, Brussels, etc.
etc. The close helmet on the “Tonlet suit” in the Tower, II, 29
(Plate X), is engraved with the Collar of the Garter and bears the
Missaglia stamp, and a suit in the Musée d’Artillerie, G, 3, bears
the same mark.


[Sidenote: _Gasparo Mola_, Rome, _circ._ 1590-1640.]

Mola is the only armourer whom we can identify as having worked in
Rome. He was born about the year 1590 at Breglio, where his father
was an architect. He came to Milan at an early age and worked there
as a goldsmith. In 1607 he made various objects in gold and silver
for the Duke of Savoy. In the same year he was summoned by Duke
Ferdinand de Medici to Florence, where he worked for two years.
In the years 1613-14 he produced medals for Mantua and Guastalla,
and about the same time he executed work for Carlo Emmanuele I of
Savoy. He committed suicide in 1640. Though we have no data for the
theory, it seems not unlikely that it was the studio of Mola which
Breughel has represented in his picture of Venus at the Forge of
Vulcan. The ruins in the background certainly suggest some of the
buildings in Rome, which might have been used for this purpose.
There are also many medals and examples of goldsmith’s work shown
on this picture in addition to the armour.

He was an expert in enamel-work and made richly decorated pistols,
and in 1642 produced a fine helmet and shield which are now in the
Bargello Museum, Florence.


[Sidenote: _Philippo and Jacomo Negroli_, Milan, _circ._ 1521-80.
Marks 42, 43, 44.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth centuryFfoulkes, Charles John

History

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century

Ffoulkes, Charles John

Armor -- History; Armorers; Weapons -- History

The last entry in the Milanese Archives relating to Antonio
refers to his mines and furnaces in a letter to Bona di Savoia,
April 20th, 1480. In the MSS. Lib., Trivulziano, is a report of
the Venetian Embassy which came to Milan on its way to Germany,
written by Andrea de Francesca. This report states that Antonio’s
workshops were visited and armour was seen there to the value of
1000 ducats. He seems to have had a son Scabrino, but there are
no records of him as an armourer. Antonio died at the end of the
fifteenth century and is the last of the family who used the name
of Missaglia. His successors reverted to the family name of Negroni
or Negroli. The suit No. 3 in the Vienna Collection is stamped
with his mark (Plate II), and many helmets of the sallad type and
various pieces of armour bear a similar stamp in other armouries,
such as the Wallace Collection, the Porte de Hal, Brussels, etc.
etc. The close helmet on the “Tonlet suit” in the Tower, II, 29
(Plate X), is engraved with the Collar of the Garter and bears the
Missaglia stamp, and a suit in the Musée d’Artillerie, G, 3, bears
the same mark.


[Sidenote: _Gasparo Mola_, Rome, _circ._ 1590-1640.]

Mola is the only armourer whom we can identify as having worked in
Rome. He was born about the year 1590 at Breglio, where his father
was an architect. He came to Milan at an early age and worked there
as a goldsmith. In 1607 he made various objects in gold and silver
for the Duke of Savoy. In the same year he was summoned by Duke
Ferdinand de Medici to Florence, where he worked for two years.
In the years 1613-14 he produced medals for Mantua and Guastalla,
and about the same time he executed work for Carlo Emmanuele I of
Savoy. He committed suicide in 1640. Though we have no data for the
theory, it seems not unlikely that it was the studio of Mola which
Breughel has represented in his picture of Venus at the Forge of
Vulcan. The ruins in the background certainly suggest some of the
buildings in Rome, which might have been used for this purpose.
There are also many medals and examples of goldsmith’s work shown
on this picture in addition to the armour.

He was an expert in enamel-work and made richly decorated pistols,
and in 1642 produced a fine helmet and shield which are now in the
Bargello Museum, Florence.


[Sidenote: _Philippo and Jacomo Negroli_, Milan, _circ._ 1521-80.
Marks 42, 43, 44.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century

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