Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/400

 idea of what must have been the appearance of such armour de luxe in its pristine magnificence of gold and blue.

With the description of these beautiful saddle steels we complete our list of the more important suits of armour which belong to the third quarter of the XVIth century.

The history of XVIth century plate armour as recorded by the suits we have illustrated must have been confusing in the extreme to the reader; we have jumped backwards and forwards from period to period according to the schools and nationalities which are referred to: And although we hope we have made our history clear to any one accustomed to deal with the subject, the beginner, we must admit, will find it extremely difficult to trace the zigzag course of the rise to the zenith of artistic achievement, and the fall to the nadir of decadence as the century declines. We have lavished admiration on all the suits, on each in its particular class; but the works of the great Negroli, in the author's opinion, are the greatest of all in the history of decorated armour.

END OF VOLUME III