Guests of Honor: Armor as Fashion

Guests of Honor: Armor as Fashion reunites the spectacular Portrait of Jean de Croÿ, 2nd Count of Solre, by Juan van der Hamen y Léon (1596–1631) with three pieces of the gilded armor forged in Brussels and worn by Croÿ in the painting. 

The eighth installment in the DIA’s Guests of Honor series, which brings single or small groups of extraordinary works from across the globe to Detroit, this display features loans from the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Valenciennes, France, and the private Cruz-Mayor Collection in Spain. 

During the golden age of European plate armor, from the late 14th until the early 17th centuries, finely crafted steel defenses became powerful status symbols. Beyond its associations with knightly honor and courage, luxury armor increasingly signified the wealth and taste of its wearer. Similar to today’s fashion, armor could express its owner’s personality or background and even spark international trends among the glittering courts of Europe. Like portraits, armors were objects of display and treasured heirlooms, preserved in the collections of their owners’ families. 

Guests of Honor: Armor as Fashion highlights these aspects of the art of armor by displaying the portrait together with pieces of the magnificent armor it depicts, reunited for the first time in over two centuries. Presented in the DIA’s Cracchiolo Gallery, these special loans join 17th-century treasures from the permanent collection, expanding the gallery’s story of European Baroque Art.