The decoration of the whole Mühlberg harness is simple and tasteful. It is composed of broad lengths of the metal in its native colour, inlaid with gold, scalloped or festooned on each side in low relief, and beautifully etched with figures, foliations, &c., down the middle. This ornamentation appears on all the pieces, the armet included.
The princes and commanders of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had a fondness for appearing in Roman garb, which, they fancied, lent dignity to their carriage. Charles V. was the possessor of a suit of Roman armour (A188), the work of Bartolommeo Campi, of Pesaro, and, in the opinion of the Conde de Valencia, the offering of Guidobaldo II., Duke of Urbino. That prince’s monogram, the Conde points out, is to be seen on the backplate gilded in relief. The date of the armour is 1546. We extract the following notes from the Catalogue:
“A. Angelucci, in his work _Documenti inediti per la storia delle armi da fuoco italiane_, Turin, 1869, p. 330, publishes a brief extract from the biography of Campi, written by Promis, which we can amplify, thanks to the documents which, by the kindness of the Dukes of Alba, we have been able to consult in their important historical Archives.
“Bartholomew Campi was born at Pesaro in the beginning of the sixteenth century, being in his youth a goldsmith and engraver of metals, and making arms and armour of great value, which merited the eulogies of the celebrated writer Pedro Aretino, in letters addressed from Venice to Bartholomew Egnazio (1545). At that time he made the armour of Charles V. In 1547 he directed the fêtes in Pesaro in honour of the wedding of Guidobaldo II. and Vittoria Farnese; and two years after, he finished the admirable work of art in gold and silver, which the Municipality of Pesaro presented to the new-born son of that Prince.
“From 1554 to 1560 probably, he was military engineer in the service of the Republic of Siena, Venice, and the French Monarch. He assisted at the siege of Calais. In the latter year, he solicited, unsuccessfully, in spite of the support of Cardinal Granvela, admittance to the Spanish Army, and then he returned to France, taking the side of the Catholics against the Huguenots.