Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/241

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  • ciated with Venice in the third quarter of the XVth century. If this

fresco is to be taken as evidence it does not seem possible to dispose of the Baron de Cosson's belief that the Earl of Warwick could well have possessed and worn the armour represented on his effigy. Of the probable Milanese origin of this suit we can bring forward additional evidence, for which also we have to thank the Baron de Cosson. This evidence is derived from a study of Andrea Mantegna's beautiful picture of St. George in the Accademia of Venice (Fig. 201), a picture in which it will be noted that the famous North Italian painter has armed his warrior-saint in a harness of plate which is almost line for line and plate for plate identical with the armour depicted in the effigy of the Earl of Warwick.

Fig. 201. St. George

By Andrea Mantegna

Accademia, Venice

Fig. 202. A mounted man-at-arms

By Albrecht Dürer, dated 1498. Inscribed above: "This was the manner of arming in former days." Albertina, Vienna