Doria (1466-1560). There is a possibility of truth in the supposition—though it must have been late in his adventurous career; for from the style of the helmet's decoration the period of its production may be considered to be about 1550. We cannot ascribe this casque to any particular armourer; but, as we have previously stated, whoever he was he must have been a master of his craft. To the same unknown hand we would assign that fine helmet in the Wallace Collection, No. 104 (Fig. 1235). Here are to be observed the same chubbiness, if we may use the term, in the general outline, and the same mid-Renaissance influence in the decoration. The casque is formed on classical lines. The surface is blackened, and in places gilt; the skull-piece is ridged and has embossed on either face the seated figure of a sphinx. Above the forehead, and continuing over the skull, is a design of overlapping acanthus leaves; while at the back a spray of conventional honeysuckle covers the surface. Around the base of this is a twisted cable design. The umbril, in one piece with the helmet, is embossed to form the upper part of a dolphin-mask; while on the neck-guard the surface is broken up by deeply incised lines. The whole of the border is turned under to a roping, the contour being followed by a row of brass-headed rivets for the attachment of the lining. It was evidently worn as a casque de parade. It never possessed ear-pieces, and is fashioned somewhat on the line of the Negroli burgonets (Figs. 1226, 1227, and 1228).
Having arrived at the middle of the XVIth century, we will now consider a most remarkable, and in its way unique helmet, well known as having been the gem of the Gatterburg-Morosini Collection dispersed in May 1894 (Fig. 1236, a, b, c). It belonged to Vincenzo Morosini, one of the most celebrated Venetian Patricians of the XVIth century, whose family came from Mantua and of which members sat on the Grand Council as early as the VIIIth century. This helmet was preserved with care by his descendants in the palace which bears their name in the Campo Francesco Morosini, near San Stefano at Venice. It only left this palace, where it held a place of honour, after the death of Countess Loredana Gatterburg-Morosini, the last representative of Francesco Morosini, surnamed Il Peloponnesiaco, the most renowned of the Morosini. It passed into the collection of Monsieur Sigismund Bardac, and later into that of Mr. Joseph Widener of Philadelphia. The casque was considered by Monsieur Germain Bapst, who so ably described it,[1] to be the work of the famous Paolo Rizzo after the designs of
- ↑ Germain Bapst: Le Casque des Morosini. Paris. N.d. Privately printed. 2 plates.
