Alessandro Vittoria. It resembles the form of those helmets of antiquity which are seen upon the statues of Pallas Athene, the tutelary divinity of Athens. It has the high simply-moulded skull-piece extending in unbroken line to a long, straight umbril, in which are two eye-shaped ocularia. So that, if it were worn thrown back on the head, the advanced umbril guarded well the upper portion of the face; whereas, if it were worn thrust down upon the head, all the lower part of the umbril guarded the face, vision being obtained through the ocularia only. Now this casque has the constructional advantage over the helmet of antiquity that the umbril can be extended into a direct visor. The design is heightened with elaborate gold azzimina inlays. The curious nature of the enrichment found on this casque does not readily suggest the identity of the armourer-artist who was responsible for it. Monsieur Germain Bapst, as we have already said, assigns the helmet to Alessandro Vittoria and Paolo Rizzo; but the Baron de Cosson feels, as does the author, that the attribution of it to these artists is not convincing. Monsieur Bapst himself is careful not to present it otherwise than as a strong presumption. This presumption is based on a resemblance of the embossed ornaments to certain architectural designs made by Alessandro Vittoria, and of the damascening generally to that appearing on the famous Trivulzio casket. This casket, enriched with maps of various countries in marvellously fine gold damascening, is known to be the work of Paolo Rizzo, the most celebrated azziminista of Venice. There is no evidence to prove that Alessandro Vittoria ever designed or that Paolo Rizzo ever executed armour, and there is no record of any great artistic armourer ever living and working in Venice in the XVIth century. We have therefore been led to examine all the representations which we possess of richly decorated armour of the period in which the helmet was made, in the hope of finding some example which might throw light on its probable author. On one example of armour alone have we found a decoration similar to that seen on this helmet, and that is on a breastplate signed I · S · O · PAVLVS · DE · NEGROLIS · ME · FECIT., formerly in the Magniac Collection, to which we have already alluded (Vol. iii, page 289, Fig. 1056). The scroll ending in a winged chimera which is found on the helmet appears on each side of the breastplate, along with much other ornament in the same style though it is rendered on the head-*piece in rather grosser form. We do not attach much importance to this kind of scroll being in use amongst Milanese designers and workers in armour. But there is a circumstance relating to the signature on the breast-*plate PAVLVS DE NEGROLIS which is, to say the least, a strange coincidence.
