as follows: we give a translation of the passage by the Baron de Cosson, as it explains the history of the second classically designed breastplate which he unhesitatingly believes to be the work of Bartolomeo Campi.
"Of the very rich armoury of Lorenzo the Magnificent only the memory remains, preserved in the inventory compiled at his death in 1492. It is probable that the armoury was dispersed when Piero de Medici fled from Florence at the approach of Charles VIII of France in 1494, and the houses of the Medici were pillaged by the populace. It contained arms and suits of armour of great value, adorned with gold and silver. Among others, we may mention the armour of Piero il Gottoso, gilt throughout, the jousting cuirass of Lorenzo, covered with violet[1] velvet, that of Giuliano, covered with white velvet, both with their waist-pieces, lance-rests, and shoulder-pieces,[2] the armour of Giuliano di Lorenzo, entirely gilt, and numerous other weapons and highly enriched pieces of armour, including un cimiero di un elmetto, d'una dama in mano d'oro una vesta indosso ricamato di perle. But unfortunately, of all these pieces not one can now be traced. Later, the Grand Duke Francesco I placed in several rooms of the Uffizi Gallery weapons and suits of armour belonging to his family, forming a collection which, in 1631, was augmented by the rich arms inherited from the Dukes of Urbino. In the XVIIth century, however, at a time when only classical antiquities were in fashion, the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, in order to make room for numerous ancient sculptures with which he had enriched his own collection, had a great quantity of pieces which belonged to the armoury of the Medici put up for sale. The English painter, Zoffany, then in Florence, was able before the auction to purchase for 450 lire seventy-four pieces, which, doubtless, later found their way into the famous Meyrick Collection, and some of them from that source passed into the Wallace Collection in London. A very few pieces, esteemed to be
- ↑ The Italian word is Alessandrino, a violet colour obtained from the oricella, a rock lichen imported from the East, which, when treated with urine, gave a dye much esteemed in Florence, and called alessandrino or pavonazzo. A Florentine merchant named Bernardo or Nardo brought this plant from the Levant in the XIIIth century, and from it his descendants derived great wealth and fame, together with the family name of Oricellai, and later Rucellai. The family still exists, and the Rucellai palace, gardens, and loggia are famous in Florence. A Trattato della Seta of 1453 describes how white silk may be dyed alessandrino with oricello. (Note by the Baron de Cosson.)
- ↑ These cuirasses are described as having "la vite, resta e spaletta," here translated as "waist-pieces, lance-rests, and shoulder-pieces." Vite is properly a "screw," but here the word is more probably used for vita, a waist. With respect to the velvet covering the Baron de Cosson calls the attention of the author to a cuirass covered with cloth of gold at Madrid, and he refers to two Italian XVth century breastplates covered with velvet in the collection of one of his friends.
