Terms and conditions of use
Bearded man in armour
(early 17th century)
- Medium
- marble
- Measurements
- 72.6 × 51.0 × 27.2 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- England
- Accession Number
- 569B-D4
- Department
- International Sculpture
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1947
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 16th & 17th Century Gallery - Painting and Sculpture
Mezzanine linked to Level 1, NGV International - About this work
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Determined to project its status to the world, the Tudor court lured many leading artists from Italy, Flanders, Germany and France, and commissioned paintings and sculptures from others for manufacture abroad. Florentine sculptors were especially esteemed for their skill in tomb and other carved portraiture, and they brought the lavish Italianate style to Protestant England. This bust of an unknown, possibly English, nobleman reflects the international court culture to which he belonged. His roman-style armour is adorned with delicate grotteschi, the fabulous and often asymmetrical natural forms that were rediscovered in Nero’s Golden House in the sixteenth century.