  About the Artwork
  
  
  Using small punches and files, the armorer skillfully pierced the hard plates of steel that make up this backplate, transforming it into lace-like tracery that echoes forms in Gothic architecture and precious metalwork from the fifteenth century. The sprays of sculpted flutes that radiate outward from the slim waist recall the pleats of the fine linen shirts or padded jackets called doublets that were fashionable in the late 1400s.

This backplate and its matching breastplate (also in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts) bear the marks of Lorenz Helmschmid, considered one of the greatest armorers of medieval and Renaissance Europe. Together, the two pieces of armor form a cuirass, or torso defense, for a dramatic and specialized type of joust invented during the 1480s at the court of the future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The decorative motifs that adorn this backplate find nearly exact parallels in armor that Helmschmid forged for Maximilian himself, now preserved in Vienna.
  
  
  Title
  Backplate for the Joust of War with exploding shields (Geshifttartschen-Rennen)
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1480
  
  Artist
  Lorenz Helmschmid
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  active 1467 - 1515/16
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Steel, copper alloy, leather
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall (Backplate): 20 13/16 × 14 × 7 1/2 inches (52.9 × 35.6 × 19.1 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Arms and Armor
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of William Randolph Hearst Foundation
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  53.193.4
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
