The spirit of rivalry, of which this noble panoply is the offspring, is expressed very plainly on the shield (A. 241) attached thereto. It is circular, of one piece, blackened, and embossed. Round the boss runs a laurel wreath, with the name of the maker and the date. On the surface are disposed four medallions, encircled by wreaths and designed respectively with allegorical representations of Strength, Victory, Wisdom, and Peace. The intermediate space is lavishly adorned with figures, masks, and foliage, and cartouches. Less skilfully executed are the designs round the rim, where Colman has presumptuously symbolised his supposed triumph over his Milanese competitor by a composition in which a bull overthrows a man bearing a shield marked “Nigrol.” The shield will certainly not bear comparison with the Italian’s work or even with the suit to which it is attached, but in fairness to the German, it must be said that it is evidently unfinished. It wants the grip and the attachments for the lining. The saddle at A. 242 is the finer work, and is adorned with the figure of Aphrodite attended by Cupids. This is the latest specimen of the work of Desiderius Colman preserved to us. He was living in 1575 (says Dr Wendelin Boeheim), but when or where he died we know not.
Little is known of Sigmund Wolf, except that he was living at Landshut in Bavaria as late as 1554, and was the teacher of Franz Grosschedel, another armour-smith of repute. To him is ascribed the harness made for Philip II., and styled the Burgundy Cross suit. The decoration consists in ornamented bands as usual, on the breastplate of one figure being engraved the figure of the Madonna. Another suit by the same maker (A. 243-262) includes no fewer than eighty-five pieces, all of which are not at Madrid. The inordinate number of tilting-pieces show Philip’s fondness for martial exercises. The weight of the armour when complete would have been 37 kilogrammes. The helm is a superb example of Wolf’s skill and the leg armour reveals his eye for symmetry. A manteau d’armes or target is screwed to the left shoulder, as was usual in tilting suits.
The armour with the lobster-tail tassets worn by the ill-fated Infante Carlos, son of Philip II., at the age of thirteen or fourteen, is attributed by Boeheim to Wilhelm von Worms of Nuremberg, and by Valencia (with a greater show of probability, it seems to me) to one of Wolf’s successors and namesakes. It is interesting to remark the difference in size of the left and right pauldrons, a proof that the prince was slightly deformed, as has so often been alleged. It is unfortunate that the armour of our own Richard III. has not been preserved, to set at rest the vexed question of his physical conformation.