Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The Ghisi Shield

Made around 1600. Part of the Waddesdon Bequest given to the British Museum by the Rothschild family in 1898. Below, details.






1 comment:

  1. Worth mentioning is the convoluted cultural influences that helped create this piece.

    Ghisi was a Mantuan, but he made this shield in 1554 in Antwerp, which at the time was controlled by the Habsburgs. So we've potentially got Italian, French, Dutch/Flemish/Burgundian, Austrian, and Spanish cultural sensibilities all in play.

    Plus the shield's iconography depecits scenes from the Iliad, so now we've got Ancient Greece involved as well.

    Don't you just love the Renaissance?

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