About the Artwork
Backplate for the Joust of War with exploding shields (Geshifttartschen-Rennen)
ca. 1480
Lorenz Helmschmid
active 1467 - 1515/16
German
Unknown
Steel, copper alloy, leather
Overall (Backplate): 20 13/16 × 14 × 7 1/2 inches, 5.1 pounds (52.9 × 35.6 × 19.1 cm, 2.3 kg)
Arms and Armor
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Gift of William Randolph Hearst Foundation
53.193.4
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
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Stamped on right shoulder: maker’s mark of Lorenz Helmschmid [a helm for the Joust of Peace, crested with a cross] Stamped on the right shoulder: inspection mark of Augsburg armorers’ guild [a fir cone upon a pedestal]
Provenance
By 1869, Princes Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Schloss Sigmaringen (Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
1929, sold to (Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., Inc.) (New York, New York, USA)
1930, sold to William Randolph Hearst (Los Angeles, California, USA)
1951, bequeathed to the William Randolph Hearst Foundation (New York, New York, USA)
1953–present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA) William Randolph Hearst Foundation (by 1951)
Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Demmin, Auguste. Guide des amateurs d’armes et armures anciennes par ordre chronologique depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’a nos jours. Paris, 1869, p. 211 (ill.).
Laking, Guy Francis. A Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries. London: G. Bell and sons, ltd., 1920, vol. II, pp. 215, 128, (ill.) 215, (fig. 247).
Comstock, Helen. "The Connoisseur in America." Connoisseur 122, no. 516 (December 1948): 118–124, p. 118 (ill.).
Robinson, Francis W. "A Gift of Arms and Armor from the Collection of William Randolph Hearst." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 33, no. 1 (1953-54): 1–5, pp. 2, 4 (ill.).
Gamber, Ortwin. "Der Turnierharnish zur Zeit König Maximilians I, und das Thunsche Skizzenbuch." Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien 53 (1957): 3–70, pp. 43, 46, figs. 51–53 (ill.).
Levkoff, Mary L. Hearst, the Collector. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2008, pp. 159–160, cat. 20 (ill.) [entry by S. Pyrhh]
Quérée, Jennifer. “The Invisible Knight: A Journey of Discovery.” Records of the Canterbury Museum 25 (2011), pp. 67–89; pp. 76–78, fig. 11 (ill.).
Pyhrr, Stuart W. “‘I Would Prefer Gothic.’ William Randolph Hears as an Armor Collector.” The Spring 2014 Park Lane Arms Fair (2014): pp. 12-13, (ill.) p. 13.
The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, pp. 235-236, cat. 127, (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Lorenz Helmschmid, Backplate for the Joust of War with exploding shields (Geshifttartschen-Rennen), ca. 1480, steel, copper alloy, leather. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of William Randolph Hearst Foundation, 53.193.4.
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