Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/193

 form and decoration of these casques are said to have been based on the original designs of Michael Angelo. We feel, however, that this is hardly likely to have been the case; for the coarse and deep etching introducing the portrait of Julius III, the plentiful gilding, and the field of black pigment upon which the general design depends, call for no particular admiration. Nor in the general design is the conception of a great master apparent. We illustrate an example from the Dino Collection (Fig. 1243).

The fact that we have not illustrated the more ordinary and simpler head-pieces of the open casque order must not be construed by the reader in any depreciatory sense; many, indeed, are often much worthier of the name of helmet than some poorly constructed but over-enriched head-*pieces of the last decades of the XVIth century. We have omitted them simply for want of space, it being impossible to deal with the various sub-*divisions of every kind of helmet. Therefore we have had to content ourselves with the mere mention of the more important specimens of each branch that we can recall. In order to show the more ordinary types of open casque of Italian origin and those that the student is likely to come across in the course of his researches, we give two illustrations (Figs. 1244 and 1245), which, taken in conjunction with our descriptions of the more historical casques, will help to complete what we trust is a fairly comprehensive account of the different forms and types that existed.

A SHORT REVIEW OF BURGONETS OF GERMAN ORIGIN, 1520-1610

In the nature of open casques are those head-pieces essentially German which we see in the engravings of Hans Sebald Beham (1500-50) preserved in the print-room in Munich. One of these plates (Fig. 1246), entitled Landsknecht, of about the year 1540, is specially noteworthy. We illustrate a very fine example of this school, half salade, half open casque, that is worthy of the closest scrutiny, No. 106 of the Wallace Collection (Fig. 1247). The strange, almost grotesque, design of this helmet is quite compensated for by the solidity and excellence of its workmanship; indeed, it recalls the famous casque made by Lorenz Kolman of Augsburg, A 59 in the Madrid Armoury. The skull-piece of the Wallace casque has a slightly flattened