This is one of the few armors attributable to Lucio Piccinino, the last of the great Italian armor embossers. Distinctive of Piccinino's style is the covering of the armor surface with a dense network of embossed ornament with vertical bands connected laterally by swags of acanthus and fruit. Originally, the steel ground was blued and highlighted with gold and silver damascening. Although damaged by fire in the nineteenth century, this armor amply demonstrates Piccinino's skill in designing a complex program of Classically inspired decoration. Acquired directly from the ancestral collection of the dukes of Alba in Madrid in 1861, this armor appears to combine the remains of two armors of nearly identical size and style. They were probably made for two of the sons of Fernando Alvarez de Toledo (1507–1582), third duke of Alba, a famous Spanish general.
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Helmet, rear view
Helmet, right profile
Helmet, left profile
Back of left pauldron (shoulder defense)
Helmet, front view
Breastplate
Artwork Details
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Title:Armor of the Dukes of Alba
Armorer:Lucio Piccinino (Italian, Milan, active ca. 1575–90)
Date:ca. 1575–85
Geography:Milan
Culture:Italian, Milan
Medium:Steel, gold, silver
Dimensions:Wt. 25 lbs. 12 oz. (11.68 kg); Helmet (a) H. 12 in. (30.5 cm); W. 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm); D. 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm); Wt. 5 lbs. 1 oz. (2,296.31 g); Colletin (b) H. 7 in. (17.8 cm); W. 11 7/16 in. (29.1 cm); Wt. 2 lbs. 2 oz. (963.88 g); Breastplate (c) H. 18 1/8 in. (46.0 cm); W. 15 in. (38.1 cm); D. 7 7/8 in. (19.9 cm); Wt. 5 lbs. 4 oz (2,381.36 g); Backplate (d) H. 14 5/8 in. (37.2 cm); W. 14 5/8 in. (37.2 cm); Wt. 3 lbs. 3 oz. (1,445.83 g); Pauldron right (e) H. 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm); W. 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm); Wt. 2 lbs. 9 oz. (1,162.33 g); Pauldron left (f) H. 10 3/8 in. (26.4 cm); W. 11 in. (27.9 cm); Wt. 2 lbs. 12 oz. (1,247.38 g); Arm Defense right (g) L. 18 1/2 in. (46.9 cm); Wt. 2 lbs. 7 oz. (1,105.63 g); Arm Defense left (h) L. 18 1/4 in. (46.4 cm); Wt. 2 lbs. 6 oz. (1,077.28 g)
Classification:Armor for Man-1/2 Armor
Credit Line:Gift of William H. Riggs, 1913
Accession Number:14.25.714a–h, j
William H. Riggs, Paris (until 1913; his gift to MMA).
Paris. Palais des Armées de Terre et de Mer. "Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1900," April 14–November 12, 1900.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance," October 22, 1977–January 8, 1978.
Seattle, Wash. Seattle Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 11, 1982–June 6, 1982, no. 20.
Denver, Colo. Denver Art Museum. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 18–October 10, 1982, no. 20.
San Antonio, Tex. Witte Museum of the San Antonio Museum Association. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 13, 1982–February 5, 1983, no. 20.
Minneapolis, Minn. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 24–July 31, 1983, no. 20.
San Francisco. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1983–January 28, 1984, no. 20.
Detroit, Mich. Detroit Institute of Arts. "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 4–June 17, 1984, no. 20.
Geneva. Musée Rath, Musées d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève. "Parures Triomphales. Le Maniérisme dans l'Art de l'Armure Italienne," March 20–July 20, 2003.
Orville, E. Notice sur les Armes et Armures Anciennes Figurant à l'Exposition Rétrospective Militaire. Paris: Berger-Levrault & Cie, 1900. p. 23.
Laking, Guy Francis, Charles A. de Cosson, and Francis Henry Cripps-Day. A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries. Vol. IV. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1920–1922. p. 137, fig. 1223.
Grancsay, Stephen V. "Lucio Piccinino: Master Armorer of the Renaissance." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin pp. 256–271, fig. 4–5, 7–8, 10, 12.
Nickel, Helmut. Warriors and Worthies: Arms and Armor Through the Ages. New York: Atheneum, 1969. p. 77, ill.
Boccia, Lionello G. Il Museo Stibbert a Firenze: L'Ameria Europea. Gallerie e musei minori di Firenze, Vol. 3, pt. 2. Milan: Electa, 1975. fig. 129.
Boccia, Lionello G. Il Museo Stibbert a Firenze: L'Ameria Europea. Gallerie e musei minori di Firenze, Vol. 3, pt. 1. Milan: Electa, 1975. cat. no. 138.
Grancsay, Stephen V., D. Graeme Keith, and Dr. Charles Avery. The Triumph of Humanism: A Visual Survey of the Decorative Arts of the Renaissance. San Francisco: Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1977. cat. no. 109, 114.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Helmut Nickel, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Leonid Tarassuk, and American Federation of Arts. The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: An Exhibition. New York: The Federation, 1982. pp. 56–58, no. 20, ill.
Grancsay, Stephen V., and Stuart W. Pyhrr. Arms & Armor: Essays by Stephen V. Grancsay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920–1964. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. pp. 519–536; fig. 115.2, .4–.6, .8–.9, .11, .13.
Scalini, Mario. Armature All'eroica Dei Negroli. Specchio del Bargelo, Vol. 38. Firenze: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, 1987. pp. 10–22.
Pyhrr, Stuart W., José-A. Godoy, and Silvio Leydi. Heroic Armor of the Italian Renaissance: Filippo Negroli and His Contemporaries. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. pp. 136–146, cat. no. 23e.
Williams, Alan R. "The Steel of the Negroli." Metropolitan Museum Journal (1999), pp. 108–109, fig. 14–15.
Godoy, José-A., and Silvio Leydi. Parures Triomphales: Le Maniérisme dans l'Art de l'Armure Italienne. Milan: 5 Continents, 2003. cat. no. 77, pp. 296–301, 482–3.
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