Close Helmet ca. 1510–20 Gian Giacomo Negroli As the only known work that may be ascribed with reasonable certainty to Gian Giacomo Negroli (1463–1543), this previously unrecorded helmet is a major addition to the small corpus of works marked or signed by members of the celebrated Negroli family of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Milanese armorers––no more than twenty pieces in total––of which key examples are in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection. The father of Filippo Negroli (ca. 1510–1579), one of the greatest armorers of Renaissance Europe, and of Francesco Negroli (ca. 1522–1600), a c

Close Helmet ca. 1510–20 Gian Giacomo Negroli As the only known work that may be ascribed with reasonable certainty to Gian Giacomo Negroli (1463–1543), this previously unrecorded helmet is a major addition to the small corpus of works marked or signed by members of the celebrated Negroli family of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Milanese armorers––no more than twenty pieces in total––of which key examples are in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection. The father of Filippo Negroli (ca. 1510–1579), one of the greatest armorers of Renaissance Europe, and of Francesco Negroli (ca. 1522–1600), a consummate damascener, Gian Giacomo was an eminent armorer in his own right. Active in Milan around the turn of the sixteenth century, he was one of the most successful members of the Negroli family, and it was in his workshop that Filippo and his brothers long worked and presumably acquired many of the skills that distinguish their works. Until now, none of Gian Giacomo’s works had been identified and all that was known about him was thus exclusively derived from archival evidence. This helmet, which is unparalleled in design and superbly crafted, offers new insights into his abilities and a precursor to the spectacular embossed armors made by Filippo and Giovan Paolo Negroli (ca. 1513–1569), Gian Giacomo’s son and nephew, respectively, and their brothers, for powerful Italian and foreign patrons, including the Emperor Charles V of Austria (1500–1558) and the Dauphin Henry II of France (1519–1559), the helmet under consideration occupies a unique place in the oeuvre of the Negrolis. Until its acquisition, and in the absence of known precedents, it had seemed that Filippo’s and Giovan Paolo’s embossed armors had no immediate forerunners. This helmet, which exhibits both the boldness of design and virtuosity of execution that characterize their works, strongly suggests that the art of embossing armor in Milan began a generation e

How we Work

Contribute

Legal

Contact Us