Armor of Henry II

Armor of Henry II, King of France (reigned 1547–59)

Armor of Henry II, King of France (reigned 1547–59)

Designer:
Part of the decoration design by Jean Cousin the Elder (French, Souci (?) ca. 1490–ca. 1560 Paris (?))
Designer:
Part of the decoration design possibly by Baptiste Pellerin (French, documented in Étampes 1542–75 Paris)
Date:
ca. 1555
Geography:
possibly Paris
Culture:
French, possibly Paris
Medium:
Steel, gold, silver, leather, textile
Dimensions:
H. 74 in. (187.96 cm); Wt. 53 lb. 4 oz. (24.20 kg)
Classification:
Armor for Man
Credit Line:
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1939

This is one of the most elaborate and complete French parade armors, and it retains much of its original coloring. The surfaces are covered by dense foliate scrolls inhabited by human figures and a variety of fabulous creatures that derive from the Italian grotesque. The decoration includes, at the center of the breast, a Roman warrior receiving tribute of arms from two kneeling females and, on the shoulders, Apollo chasing the nymph Daphne (front) and Apollo with the slain monster Python (back). The crescent moon, one of the badges of Henry II (reigned 1547–59), appears in several places.

Twenty original design drawings for this armor survive. One is by Jean Cousin the Elder; the rest are by either Étienne Delaunne or Baptiste Pellerin. All three were distinguished Parisian artists of the mid-sixteenth century.

Provenance
Henry II, King of France (until d. 1559); Carl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Residenzschloss, Weimar (by 1804–d. 1828); by descent to Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Residenzschloss, Weimar, later Schloss Heinrichau, Lower Silesia, Germany (now Henryków, Poland) (1901–d. 1923); his widow, Feodora, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Schloss Heinrichau (1923–1929; sold in May, 1929, to Kahlert & Sohn); [E. Kahlert & Sohn, Berlin, 1929; sold on December 14, 1929, for $135,000, to Sir Joseph Duveen for Mackay]; Clarence H. Mackay, New York (1929–d. 1939; his estate, 1939, inv. no. A-17; sold through Jacques Seligmann & Co. on May 15, 1939, to MMA).

Exhibition History
Coburg, Germany. Veste Coburg. "Waffenausstellung," 1919.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–February 14, 1971, no. 249.

Paris. Musée de l'Armée. "Sous L'Égide de Mars: Armures des Princes d'Europe," March 16–June 26, 2011, no. 59.

Location : Metropolitan Museum of Art