Indeed, on the suit of armour signed by Campi there are to be seen the same imitation mail, the head of Medusa, and the volutes. Like the breastplate of Madrid, that at the Bargello terminated at its lower edge in a series of small hanging scales, which now have disappeared, but the hinges of which yet remain. I should consider this breastplate slightly earlier than the one given to the Emperor, and that it may have suggested to the Duke the idea of ordering the complete suit of armour later presented to Charles V."
The Baron de Cosson was good enough to supply the present writer with an excellent photograph of the breastplate (Fig. 1054) which, on comparison with that on the suit Fig. 1051, shows the great likeness between the two plates, and the very excellent reason the Baron has for stating "confidently" his belief that it comes from the hand of Campi.
Perhaps, after these—the Madrid Campi suits and the breastplate by the same armourer in the Bargello, Florence—the most classically conceived harness extant is that now in the Royal Armoury of Turin, C 11, made for Antonio Martinengo III (Fig. 1055). In the catalogue of the ducal armoury of 1604 (Arch. Gonzaga, x, 1, No. 9, BA 3884) it figures as Una armatura bianca da cavallo all'antica ch'era a Cauriana ed una mazza d'ottone lavorata artificiosamente in mano. It was a tradition in the Martinengo family that this harness was made for and belonged to Antonio I; but as Antonio Martinengo I lived in the middle of the XVth century, and the period of this classic harness is well that of the XVIth century, the third Antonio must have been confused with the first. In other words, the armour of Antonio III was, in the old inventory, described as being that of his great-grandfather, quite irrespective of the fact that it is quite a hundred years later in style. It is a half suit, with a somewhat long-waisted breastplate having a slight central ridge with tassets of five plates attached, riveted to the taces. The head-piece is an open casque with a high comb and hinged ear-pieces. The classical appearance of the harness is due to the form of the shoulder-plates or espaliers; for they are quite in the Roman fashion, beautifully modelled of single plates, from the lower edge of which hangs a double row of rectangular scales as seen on the Charles V suit by Campi (Fig. 1051). The classical feeling is also shown in the very unusual method of enrichment which is employed in the surface decoration. It may be described as being broadly fluted, the recessed parts of the surface being etched and gilded, and the raised surfaces entirely etched with a clever representation of interlinked chain mail. This is the theme of ornament of the entire suit, the only other decoration being on the edge of the comb of the casque, which is embossed with a design
