Parade Cuirass
c. 1600–10
- Medium
- Brass, iron, leather, silver-gilt thread, silk and linen textile
- Classification
- Armor
- Dimensions
- H.: 44 cm (17 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
- Credit line
- Pauline Seip Armstrong Endowment Fund; Harding Collection Fund; purchased with funds provided by Paul Carbone; Bessie Bennett Endowment Fund; Beatrice Swartchild and Laird Landmann Arms and Armor funds; Wendel Fentress Ott and Charles R.…
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This cuirass (beast- and backplate) is the only known example of its kind from the turn of the seventeenth century. Produced from soft sheets of brass embossed from both the inside and out and then gilded, it was likely produced by a goldsmith rather than an armorer. Though in the form of battle-ready armor, the cuirass served no true defensive purpose, instead acting as a conspicuous sign of rank and wealth. Originally, it would have formed part of an ensemble with a burgonet—a type of open-face helmet—and a matching round shield. This garniture would have been worn by a high-ranking nobleman or military commander on festive occasions, processional entries into a city, or other courtly and civic ceremonies.
The surface of the cuirass is a riot of attenuated figures and ornament, typical of mannerist taste. The lively, more naïve than elegant mode of the decoration suggests the work of an unidentified provincial Flemish, German, or French goldsmith. Some of the figures are identifiable: from Classical antiquity, Mars and Hercules; from the Old Testament, David and Goliath; and the virtues of Justice, Temperance, Faith, and Hope. The figures are loosely taken from engraved prints…
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
