Subject: bravo

Culture: Venetian

Setting: Venetian Republic 16th-17thc

Object: armor

Metropolitan Museum of Art > Stone Gallery of Arms & Armor *

"Armor of Giovanni Battista del Monte

Steel, etched and partly gilt Italian (possibly Brescia), about 1590

Del Monte (1521-1614) was a mercenary soldier who at various times served the emperor,

the pope, the kings of Spain and France, and the Venetian Republic.

This armor dates from del Monte's service to Venice as captain general of infantry

and was probably made in Brescia, an armormaking center then under Venetian control.

"The armor is notable for its elegantly pointed helmet with a steel plume and

for the etched and gilt decoration in imitation of a textile pattern.

Overall decoration of this kind was especially fashionable in the period from 1590 to 1610.

A portrait of del Monte in the Museo Stibbert, Florence,

shows this armor with its arms and gauntlets, now missing."