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
Philippo and Jacomo Negroli were sons of Bernardino who worked in
Rome. It is uncertain whether their father still kept the name
of Missaglia, which was used by Antonio and Thomaso Negroni. The
earliest known work by these masters is dated 1532. For some
years they were assisted by their brother Francesco, who left
them about this date and worked alone for the Mantuan Court.
Brantome and Vasari both mention Philip as being a craftsman of
very high repute. His armour was always very costly, and Brantome
states that a morion made by him would cost 40 thalers and that
in sixteen years he had amassed 50,000 thalers. He seems to have
been ennobled, for Brantome calls him Seigneur de Negroli. He had
a house in the Porta Comassina, the wealthy quarter of Milan. His
work is always ornate, but does not transgress the craft-laws to
such an extent as did the armour of Peffenhauser and Piccinino
(Plate XXIX). Work by the Negrolis is to be found as follows: In
Madrid, A, 139-46; D, 13, 30, 64. Vienna, 330. Paris, G, 7, 10, 178.
[Sidenote: _Anton Peffenhauser_, Augsburg, 1525-1603.]
We have no details of the life of this craftsman beyond the
dates of his birth and death. He is best known as the maker of
elaborately decorated armour. The suit made for King Sebastian
of Portugal (Madrid, A, 290) is one of the most ornate suits in
existence (Plate XIV, also p. 75). His works are found as follows:
Madrid, A, 290. Dresden, C, 10, 13, 15_a_, 20; D, 11; E, 6_a_, 10;
G, 146. Vienna, 489, 490.
[Sidenote: _Lucio Piccinino_, Milan, _circ._ 1590.]
Lucio was the son of Antonio Piccinino, the famous sword-smith. It
is uncertain whether he actually produced armour himself or whether
he was solely concerned with the decoration. Like Peffenhauser he
delighted in lavish display of ornament without any consideration
to its fitness for armour. His work is extraordinarily minute and
the technical skill displayed is extreme. His work is only to be
found at Madrid, A, 291-4, and at Vienna, 543.
[Sidenote: _Pompeo della Chiesa_, Milan, 1590.]
The son of a noted craftsman, Pompeo was one of the foremost
armourers in the latter years of the sixteenth century. He was
Court Armourer to Philip III of Spain, and to the Archduke of
Milan, Alessandro Farnese. His work is found in the Armeria Reale,
Turin, C, 21, 70; in Vienna, 858, 859.
[Sidenote: _Conrad, Hans, and Jorg Seusenhofer_, 1470-1555. Marks
7, 8.]
The brothers Conrad and Hans at different periods filled the
position of Court Armourer to Maximilian I. Conrad was born between
the years 1450 and 1460. He was cousin to Treytz, who produced
the _Weisz Künig_, that chronicle of the doings and artistic
endeavours of the young Maximilian which, while it is amusing in
its sycophantic adulation of the Emperor is, at the same time, an
invaluable record of the operations of the applied arts of the
period and of costumes and armour then in fashion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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