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Breastplate from Hussar's Cuirass
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This style of breastplate, with its numerous articulating lames, was probably used by a Hungarian hussar, a type of light cavalryman. The steel plates were originally blued-now turned russet-and etched and gilded with strapwork bands. The rows of vertical holes once provided gilt-brass settings for stones or glasspaste jewels. The effect would have suggested the semi-oriental costume and armor of the Near East favored by Polish and Hungarian armies of the late Renaissance.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBreastplate from Hussar's Cuirass, c. 1580. Germany, Augsburg or Hungary, 16th century. Steel (originally blued, now russet), etched and gilded strapwork bands; ; overall: 42.3 x 35 cm (16 5/8 x 13 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance, 1916.1521
