Half Armor for the Foot Tournament
This armor was designed for the foot tournament, an event that was separate from the equestrian jousts popularized during the Middle Ages and still favored among Renaissance aristocracies throughout Europe. Foot tournaments were commonly fought over a barrier that separated the combatants and gave protection to their legs, so a half-armor such as this one provided sufficient protection. The original owner of this suit would have worn it with colorful puffed and slashed britches and hose. The use of outlandish accessories, such as a large ostrich feather plume (a brass plume holder may be se...
Details
- Palette
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- Dimensions
- overall: height 0.317 m, width 0.277 m, depth 0.216 m
- Origin
- Italy, Milan
- Department
- Medieval Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- John L. Severance Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Styles and Movements
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Medieval Art Metadata · 90%
The museum lists Medieval Art among the object’s classifications.
Visual Qualities
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 99%
The visible plates are densely covered with engraved borders, scrolling motifs, repeated bands, and ornamented panels.
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Symmetrical Visual · 96%
The frontal display reveals a strongly bilateral arrangement of the helmet, shoulder defenses, arms, gauntlets, and lower plates.
Medium and Techniques
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Etching/Engraving Metadata · 98%
The steel is explicitly described as etched, and the image shows extensive incised ornament across the helmet, breastplate, pauldrons, arms, gauntlets, and lower plates.
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Gold Leaf and Gilding Metadata · 92%
The steel is explicitly described as gilded, with warm gold-toned accents visible within the engraved decoration.
Time Periods
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16th Century Art Metadata · 98%
The catalog dates the armor to c. 1590, within the sixteenth century.
Geographic Regions
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Italian Art Metadata · 97%
The maker is identified as Italian and the place of origin as Milan, Italy.
Materials
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Steel Metadata · 99%
The catalog specifies etched and gilded steel.
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Brass Metadata · 95%
Brass rivets are specified in the catalog medium and are visibly distributed across the armor plates.
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Leather/Hide Metadata · 80%
Leather fittings are specified in the catalog medium; individual dark fittings cannot all be identified visually with certainty.
Textiles
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Use of Fabric Both · 96%
The catalog describes velvet fittings, and the image clearly shows red textile strips and edging between and beneath the steel plates.
Antiquities, Artifacts, and Religious Objects
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Arms and Armor Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the object as Arms and Armor, and its title identifies it as Half Armor for the Foot Tournament.
Source & rights
Pompeo della Cesa (Italian, active 1572–93). Half Armor for the Foot Tournament. Cleveland Museum of Art.