- senting the armoury of Charles V[1] they are described amongst "old things that came
from Flanders." The probability therefore is that they belonged to Philip the Fair, Maximilian, or perhaps even Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The decoration is certainly by the hand of one of those semi-Oriental artists who have left us many richly executed dishes and bowls covered with similar designs, and this might tend to show that when they were decorated, Milan did not yet possess the school of engravers on steel to which I have referred, and that the Negrolis had to send to Venice for an artist to decorate them. I only hazard this supposition as a possibility, but no other piece of armour of their date at all like them is known to me.
The skill acquired by the workman in raising the ridges and flutings to which I have referred, probably led to the next step in the decoration of the metal, the embossing of decorative designs in the steel. These at first were used sparingly and would be further enriched by engraving, gilding, and the splendid blueing called by the Italians pavonazzo. I cannot recall any example of this decoration anterior to the close of the first decade of the XVIth century. Later on, when the designs on the metal had become much more elaborate and embraced all those subjects hitherto only presented in sculpture or painting, another art was called in to heighten their effect, and give them to a certain extent light and shade and colour. That was the art of azziminia or the inlaying of steel with gold and silver, an art that would appear to have come to Venice from the East, where it had long been practised. We are thus led up to the great masterpieces of the Negrolis, so many of which have been preserved to us, thanks to Charles V's passion for possessing quantities of the finest and most splendid armour possible, masterpieces that can only be properly appreciated at Madrid, and that were never surpassed either in their own day or at any later date. Their pre-eminence is due to the fact, that with the highest artistic fancy and perfection of technical execution, they show a reserve in the use of ornamentation which prevents them from ever appearing overloaded with it. Certain portions of the steel are always left plain and undecorated, the piece thus retaining its character of real defensive armour, whilst the decoration acquires a double value through its contrast with the plain parts. This finest epoch only lasted a short while and, by the middle of the century, there was a tendency to cover the whole surface of the piece with embossing which, however excellent in its workmanship, and that produced by Lucio Piccinino was of superlative merit, deprived the armour of its appearance of defensive strength.
My much regretted friend, Count de Valencia de Don Juan, once told me of a curious letter, preserved I think in the Imperial Archives at Vienna, written to Charles V by one of his doctors who, when he went to Milan, used to stay in the house of the Negrolis. He related that he had observed that whenever he stayed there, his gold
- ↑ Preserved in the Royal Library at Madrid.
