Subject: cavaliere knight

Culture: Renaissance Italian

Setting: Italy 16thc

Evolution:

Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)

Armor

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

"Italian Parade Armor, 1550 to 1600 Unlike etching, embossing -- the ornamentation of metal by raising designs in relief from the surface -- seriously weakened armor plate and eliminated the smooth surfaces that served to deflect the blows of lances and swords. Embossed armors were therefore created exclusively for ceremonial purposes in military and civic festivals. Following the tradition of the Negroli, ... Milanese armorers pursued new, pictorial styles of armor decoration. Shields and helmets were embossed with complex, multifigured scenes from ancient history and the Bible. The raised surfaces were damascened with gold or silver and contrasted with a russet or blued background. The finest armor decorator of the period was Lucio Piccinino (active about 1575-1590), who reputedly designed, embossed, and damascened the armors himself."

Shield

* Stone 1934 p528

"ROTELLA. A target, or shield, carried on the arm by two straps, 16th century." [reference omitted]