The Armour Archive

Dear all,

Recently I've found the following painting by Francisco de Zurbarán (and workshop).
http://www.amis-musees-castres.asso.fr/ ... itlara.jpg
This is a portrait of Alvar Velázquez de Lara located today in Musée Goya Castres, Tarn, France. The armour on the painting has been decorated with human (?) faces.

Is this decoration a part of an existing tradition? Was it well-known also outside of Spain?

I'll be very grateful for any help with the subject.

Best regards,
Alexander

Welcome aboard!

That is an interesting picture. At a guess, without too much research, I would say that it is probably very late-period parade armour. Parade armour, as it sounds, would be made especially for show, not real use. There are some very fantastical pieces referenced and still extant - one helmet, I believe, was made to resemble a lion's head.

This set, in particular, was probably contemporary with the painting itself, mid 17th century.


Hope this helps; and remember, it is only my opinion - I didn't even crack a book. I am prepared to be mistaken.



Z

It might possibly even be just a costume for a masqued ball or something, which wouldn't have to be made of metal.

Just speculating.

I think it is 17th C fantasy armor, more than anything else. According to the web, the artist died in 1664.

I'm really not sure what he is trying to say... The features, especially of the left kneecop appear to be of Native American features. The tassets aren't like many examples that I've seen (none is a little too definite ), and the poleweapon also doesn't exactly match anything I'm familiar with for the age.

Perhaps Francisco heard some vague account of Iriquois wearing some form of body armor, and based this painting off of it, and used a *little* artistic license in the painting. This is pretty simple work compared to some of the extant Negroli pieces, so it isn't something that was impossible to do, even in the mid17th C.

I just find it very unlikely.