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Barberini Palace

Depicted in the same armour

seemed wellnigh impracticable for use; for any movement of the shoulders immediately raised these great plates, catching us on either side of the neck, or locking on every occasion over the shoulder blades. Even in contemporary times this seemed the case, for we note in the Uccello battle-*piece in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, one of the set of four painted for the Bartolini family to which series our National Gallery picture belongs, the central knight on the white horse is practically unseated by the thrust of a lance from an adversary. Judged by the position in which he is thrust backwards, he appears to be almost choked by his great pauldrons (Fig. 228). In a slightly different form the huge size of the pauldrons can again be noted on a suit of blue and gold Italian armour, represented as