SUIT AT ALNWICK CASTLE.
This is a very chaste and elegant Italian suit ([Fig. 33]), dating from the last quarter of the sixteenth century. It is ornamented in the banded Italian style; the ground of repoussé work, with its rich minute foliations in low relief, is gilded, while the rest of the steel remains bright. The general style of the ornamentation is alternate chevrons of bright steel and minute repoussé work. The decorative work on the pauldrons and genouillières is, however, much bolder in character than on the rest of the armour. A very similar style of ornamentation may be seen on a tilting suit given in Skelton, vol. i., Plate VIII., and dated by him 1543. The Alnwick harness is freely studded with brass-headed rivets which have been gilded.
The helmet is in four pieces, and highly characteristic of the Italian school of the period.
The gorget is comparatively modern, but conveys the idea that it was copied from the original piece owing to dilapidation, and but for the ornamentation it would pass even with close observers when the suit is set up.
Fig. 33.—Suit at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.
The pauldrons are very beautiful, and laminated at the shoulders and upper arm. The rerebrace and vambrace are finely formed and ornamented; the former is laminated.
The coudières are pointed at the elbows, with side-guards which continue round the arms.
The gauntlets are articulated, with thumb-plates, and a salient ridge runs across the knuckles. One of them, like the gorget, is of a more recent date than the main portion of the suit.
The cuirass is specially long and handsome. A broad piping borders the top and arm-holes. A tapul runs down the centre, projecting in a hump towards the middle. On the right side is a lance-rest, and on the left are holes for affixing a grand-guard. The lower portion of the cuirass consists of three narrow laminated plates, running almost horizontally, and fastened together by brass-headed rivets, which were originally gilded. The tassets are riveted to the bottom rim of the cuirass. These pieces consist of ten lames, with gilded rivets. A special feature is that the tassets can be shortened or lengthened at pleasure, the last four lames being detachable—clearly an arrangement for fighting on foot or on horseback. Other examples of this kind have already been given. The upper section is complete in itself with an ornamental rim, as is the lower one. This is a contrivance often met with in the second half of the sixteenth century. The attachment is accomplished by a screw catch and sliding rivet.
The backplate, which terminates in a garde-de-reine, has a piped border round the top and shoulders, and there are two lames at the bottom.
The cuisse, like the tasset, is in two sections, with similar means of attachment. The genouillières are attachable to the jambs by catch and sliding rivets. The knee-guards are small. The jambs are banded down the centre, in a line with the genouillières and cuisses. The sollerets are the variety styled “bec-de-cane,” being almost the shape of the foot. Both jambs and sollerets must be classed with the gorget and one gauntlet as restorations; they are all most beautifully done. Some details will be clearly seen in [Fig. 34].
Fig. 34.—Some details of the Suit at Alnwick Castle.
The harness already referred to as having been worn by the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg about the year 1600, and illustrated in [Fig. 35], is a beautiful suit by the celebrated Milan armour-smith, Lucio Piccinino. It is profusely inlaid with gold, and the ornamentation is most elegant. The sumptuous and elaborate decoration, which is in the banded Italian style in repoussé or hammered work, with arabesqued foliations, is interspersed with medallions encircling male and female figures. The helmet and suit throughout is closely in touch with the elegant Italian school of the end of the sixteenth century, which, however, already erred on the side of redundancy in ornamentation. The close of all great periods culminates with this great fault, sharply marking the beginning of the end; the waning vigour of the theme eked out by a profusion of detail. The prince-bishop’s arms are engraved on the cuirass, and the historic character of the suit invests it with special interest and importance. The series of reinforcing plates belonging to it may be referred to in Figs. 10 and 11. Lucio Piccinino’s style marked the last stage before the decline of art. He came of a family of artists; his father was the celebrated sword-smith, Antonio Piccinino. Other examples of Lucio’s handiwork may be seen in a richly decorated helmet and shield at Vienna.
Fig. 35.—Suit by Lucio Piccinino, of Milan.