Page 248 - El arte del poder

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Parade armor, shield, and chanfron of Philip II
Desiderius Helmschmid, armorer (doc. 1513-1579); Jörg Sigman, silversmith (1527-1601)
Augsburg, 1549-1550 and 1552
Blackened, gilded, and damascened steel, gold, brass, leather [53] Armor
[54] Shield: diameter 55.5 cm; weight 4580 g
[55] Chanfron: height 55 cm; width 24 cm; weight 1360 g Patrimonio Nacional. Madrid, Real Armería, cat. a.239-a.241
bibliography: Godoy 1991, pp. 155-164, no. 25; Godoy 1992a, pp. 174-183; Thomas, Gamber and Schedelmann 1974, p. 256, illus. 103; Valencia de Don Juan 1898, pp. 77-83, no. A.239-A.242, illus. XIII
Bruno Thomas and Ortwin Gamber aptly stated that the history of the art of armor is part of the history of princely patronage, and that only the great connoisseurs and patrons were in a position to demand the utmost from the leading artists. The present armor, which was made for Philip II when a prince, is a good example of the above and a masterpiece of this art. It belongs to a small but exquisite light gar- niture housed in an incomplete state in the Royal Armory, consisting of pieces for infantry and other complementary elements to be worn with civilian dress. It lacks cavalry pieces and is notable for the artic- ulated breastplate. The 1594 inventory of the Royal Armory lists it as being stored in cabinet number sixteen (fig. 7), describing its compo- sition under the heading (fol. 84o): “A cuirass of anime construction with relief work and damascening which has a breastplate without lance rest and its backplate and gorget and another gorget with the same decoration that can be worn on its own.” It is shown here with its shield, and chanfron, to give an idea of the garniture as a whole.
Its exquisite chased decoration makes it one of the culminating works of the German Renaissance, and it stands out among the few German armors with chased decoration in relief as opposed to the traditional etched surfaces. Indeed, embossing is an elegant substitute for the traditional etching on all the decorative bands, which display a rich variety of motifs executed with great precision such as imperial eagles, masks, nymphs, satyrs, grotesques, cornucopias, and birds, among others. The bands bearing this relief and gilt decoration are edged with gold-damascened scalloping that also extends around the perimeter of all the pieces. The burgonet has two oval medallions with combat scenes from Antiquity. On each couter is a female figure resting on an inverted truncated pyramid column; these figures wear the imperial crown and the collar of the Golden Fleece round their necks, and are accompanied on either side by warriors all’antica and, on the
reverse, lion heads, like those on the poleyns. The upper lames of the breastplate display the Golden Fleece, although the reference to its owner is provided by the prince’s coat of arms on the chanfron, with the heraldic label indicating his status.
A set of armor as exquisite and costly as this could only have been designed for an event of far-reaching significance, such as the representation of the prince at the Diet of Augsburg in 1550, the assembly held to discuss who would succeed Charles V as emperor. Once again the prince’s image depended on Desiderius Helmschmid, who had to enlist the help of the silversmith Jörg Sigman. The burgonet is signed “DESIDERIO COLMAN IN AVGVSO 1550” (“Desiderius Colman [Helmschmid] in Augsburg in 1550”). Next to the signature are the monogram of Jörg Sigman and his initials “I S”., which are also engraved at the nape beside the date, 1549, indicating that it was crafted over the two-year period. The cantle of the saddle of this garniture bears the marks of the city of Augsburg and of Desiderius Helmschmid, flanking the figure of Venus on a shell pulled by a dolphin and surrounded by putti. However, it was on the shield that Desiderius proudly underlined his status of imperial armorer with an unusual arrogance and even a certain amount of superiority towards fellow armorers, such as the Milanese workshop of Filippo Negroli. He signed it as “DESIDERIO · COLMAN · CAYS · MAY · HARNASCHMACHER ··AVSGEMACHT · IN · AVGVSTA · DEN · 15 · APRILIS IM · 1552 · JAR.” (“Desiderio Colman [Helmschmid], Armorer to His Imperial Majesty completed it at Augsburg on 15 April of the year 1552”); together with the inscription is a scene on the border showing the armorer as a bull charging at a warrior whose shield bears the surname “.NEGROL.” (fig. 39) in what is a unique case of professional jealously in the art of armor. Standing out on the field are four medallions illustrating the allegorical triumphs of Peace, War, Strength, and Wisdom. It is important to stress that the shield was completed two years later, by which time the context in which the armor was originally commissioned had changed substantially. By 1552 Philip II no longer stood a chance of inheriting the empire and Desiderius himself had largely fallen from favor, as Philip now showed preference for the workshop of Wolfgang Grosschedel in Landshut. Nonetheless, both Desiderius and Jorg Sigman were highly satisfied with their creation. Sigman even wrote to Philip II in 1550 asking him to intercede on his behalf to secure him membership of the Augsburg silversmiths’ guild, on the merits of the two-year commission he had worked on for the prince. Alonso Sánchez Coello painted the king wearing this armor twenty years after it was made. The portrait, now in Pollok House in Glasgow, is notable for its highly accurate depiction of the armor with only minor variations, such as the omission from the breastplate of the Golden Fleece, which is shown hanging from a rich collar. a.s.c.
the royal armory in spanish court portraits 247