Pompeo della Cesa; Field Armor from a Garniture (detail), about 1595; steel, iron, brass, gold, silver, leather, fabric; weight: 47 pounds 15 ounces; Worcester Art Museum, The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection 2014.112; Image © 2021 Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved
Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum
February 18–May 14, 2023- Location
- Entrance in Mae M. Whittaker Gallery 212
The Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum is the nation’s second-largest collection of arms and armor, including more than 1,500 objects ranging from ancient Egypt to 19th-century Japan but with particular strengths in suits of steel armor from medieval and Renaissance Europe. Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum presents highlights from this collection in a major survey of defensive armor in Europe from its origins in the 1300s to today.
The Saint Louis Art Museum will celebrate Age of Armor with a free, public preview starting at 4 pm on Friday, February 17, 2023.
The exhibition begins with an ancient Greek helmet to demonstrate armor’s long history in Western civilization and includes superb helmets from Japan, India, and Sudan to suggest the universality of armor as a defensive tool and a medium for artistic virtuosity. The heart of the exhibition is the gloriously decorated armors—including several full suits—produced by Renaissance craftsmen in the 1500s. Age of Armor embraces recent scholarship in which parallels are drawn between the design of these suits and clothing fashions to make the point that armor is clothing.
Basic forms of plate armor have inspired designers and creators throughout time and into the late 20th century, and the Saint Louis Art Museum’s presentation of this exhibition will add examples of modern defensive gear developed by the US Army as well as representations of armor from Hollywood films. Additionally, the exhibition will include depictions of armor in other artworks from the Saint Louis Art Museum collection, including paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Rubens studio, prints by Albrecht Dürer, and rarely exhibited Flemish tapestries.
The presentation in St. Louis is curated by David Conradsen, the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Grace L. Brumbaugh and Richard E. Brumbaugh Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, with assistance from Katherine Feldkamp, research assistant.
This exhibition is organized by the WORCESTER ART MUSEUM.
"Maximilian" Field Armor Holding a War Hammer for a Horseman, about 1525–1530; southern German; armor: steel, iron, and leather with modern restorations, war hammer: etched and blackened steel; 22 5/16 x 4 1/8 inches; Worcester Art Museum, The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection 2014.111 and 2014.469; Image © 2021 Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved
Presented with generous support from the Betsy & Thomas Patterson Foundation. Major support provided by the E. Desmond Lee Family Endowment for Exhibitions.
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Audio Guide
The exhibition audio guide shares a selection of armor and its various uses, from physical protection to serving as a symbol of personal identity, cultural values, social prestige, and fashion. Listen to the director’s welcome, curators, scholars, artisans, and community members on the extraordinary craftsmanship and significance of armor through time.