Armour as Animated Sculpture in sixteenth- century Germany

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While the development of offensive weaponry using gunpowder gradually rendered armour obsolete in battle, aesthetic sophistication and functional perfection reached a highpoint in field, tournament and ceremonial armour of the sixteenth century. How do we explain this unwavering fascination with the art of armour making? The proposed thesis will provide nuanced explanations for the motivation that drove ingenuity and craftsmanship in the design and production of armour in sixteenth-century Germany. She will consider the aesthetic appreciation of these objects and the fact that armour makerswere among the finest craftsmen and artists of their time, inspiring ingenuity across the arts and in various media. Focusing on the production centres and courts of Germany and Austria with occasional reference to Bohemia and Poland, she will consider the patronage of the extended House of Habsburg. To the early modern beholder, the body clad with armour was something like moving sculpture. Even in the absence of an active wearer armour was not immobilised and silenced. Different tactics were employed to animate armour, prompting people's imagination and persuading beholders. Going beyond the current isolation of armour in the literature, she will analyse how armour and aesthetic appreciation for it had the potential to shape early modern visual culture, drilling down to the larger issue of the slow-burn of chivalry and ultimately to how medieval ideals continued to influence the arts.