Portrait of a Man in Armor

The sitter of this canvas is unidentified, but his armour is eloquent. Such a suit was made for the “foot tourney,” a combat in which two men faced one another across a wooden barrier and exchanged a set number of blows with pike or sword; the armour was probably produced in southern Germany, though officers from Austria, Spain and Italy prized it alike. Because a soldier wore his sword on the side opposite its primary use, the rapier hanging at this man’s right shows that he was left-handed. Antonis Mor, court painter to King Philip II of Spain, portrayed many members of the Spanish court and the Habsburg family in just this three-quarter-length, three-quarter-view format, combining an austere formal pose with a searching account of his sitter’s character. The canvas, 111.1 × 80 cm, is held by the J. Paul Getty Museum.