Full-visor armets
I'm looking for information on fifteenth century armets with "full" visors. Here's an example of what I mean:

[ Linked Image ]
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4189896

Instead of the occularia being created by a gap between the visor and brow of the helmet like on typical fifteenth century armets, it's got a complete visor. Was this a later addition to an armet that had lost its visor, or is this visor contemporary with the helmet? I found a couple more examples in Sir Guy Francis Laking's A Record of European Armour and Arms Through Seven Centuries:

https://archive.org/stream/recordofeuropean02lakiuoft#page/82/mode/2up

Laking speculates that the full visor was the original form of the armet, and it was later replaced by a half-visor and brow reinforce. I'm not sure if his dating is correct, or even if the armets are originals. Does anyone know of any modern works discussing early full-visored armets? Were these visors even contemporary with the helmets or added later during the 16th-19th centuries? Does anyone know of any period artwork depicting armets of this form?
Here are a couple in this fresco by Piero della Francesca. He is said to have painted it between 1458 and 1466.

[ Linked Image ]


Mac
Similar visors feature very prominently in Pisanello's frescoes in the Ducal Palace in Mantova (Mantua), which seems to represent a tournament. In the frescoes, their appearance is very reminiscent of those visors on grand bacinets that so much resemble 'frog mouthed' helms.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...p_01.1.jpg
Robert and James: Thank you! Those frescoes are exactly the type of depiction I was looking for.

Does anyone have a comment about Laking's theory? He believed that the full-visor armet was the predecessor of the typical armet, and was developed directly from frog-mouth bascinets. I'm not so sure. The dates don't seem to line up correctly, it would seem that the full-visor was simply an alternative style.

Page 1 of 1

Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum




All contents © Copyright 2003-2006 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Full-featured Version of the forum