Pompeii No.18: The Right Trophy

Last week, I unveiled the finished left trophy, but I've actually been working on both trophies simultaneously.

Like the left trophy, the right trophy features a helmet that is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Metropolitan Museum of Art  

The helmet is called a burgonet, a term that is derived from the word Burgundy. This one is embossed steel and dates to between 1545 and 1550, and it was probably made in Milan, Italy. The Metropolitan rues the fact that early conservators polished a subtly engraved background pattern completely away!

I've mentioned that I like to use as much reference as possible, and when I was designing the trophies, I had a clear vision of heavily grained poles upon which to mount the paraphernalia. Where would such wood exist? I ended up photographing weathered telephone poles that face the Gulf of Mexico, near my neighborhood.

Moving down and behind the shield are a number of implements that are historically correct. (I have taken a little license with the baton in the form of a battering ram, if only because I wanted the pleasure of painting the ram's head!) The hand is the top of a Roman standard.

Unlike the shield of the left trophy, the design of this shield was never seen in Rome. Instead, I have borrowed the design of a cameo from the collection of Catherine the Great, below.

photo-illustration, Mark D. Ruffner  |  ancientrome.ru

Looking at the collections of Catherine the Great, one quickly realizes what a discerning eye she had. She loved cameos, and especially jeweled ones, but it was her habit — one can clearly see by looking at her collection — to replace any jeweled frames with very simple ones. She evidently didn't want anything to detract from the artistry of the cameo itself.

The base of the right trophy complements, but is not identical to the left trophy.

Below is the finished Right Trophy Wall.

click to enlarge

That panel on the right is looking quite bare now, don't you think? In the next week we'll figure out what to put there. I hope you'll join me then!
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Pompeii No.17: The Left Trophy

This week and next, we'll be looking at the mural's narrow "Trophy Walls." Both of my trophies will be on stands, as though all the paraphernalia is ready to be donned at a moment's notice.

Mark D. Ruffner  |  Metropolitan Museum of Art

I've chosen to use this helmet from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It dates from 1788-90, and was part of a costume used in the French theater. Though it is of a later period, I'm of course using the helmet because of its spectacular Neoclassic design.

The armor is a composite of historic examples that I've found in reference books, and on the Internet. Yes, there really was armor with such a scallop shell design.

Moving down, the shield is modeled after an actual design used by one of the Roman legions, below, though it would have been a bright red. Note the Macedonian stars, about which I spoke here.

buzzle.com   |   twcenter.net

The round shield was called a parma, and it would have offered less protection than the body-length shield on the right, which was called a scutum. The soldier holding the scutum would have been in a tight formation in front of the soldier holding the parma.

U. S. Military Shoulder Patches of the United States Armed Forces, 5th Edition

Above are several insignia of the United States Army, and one can see here the influence of Roman design into our contemporary time. From left to right: the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, the 18th Field Artillery Brigade, the 30th Field Artillery Regiment, and the 197th Field Artillery Brigade.

The base of the stand continues the Imperial Roman theme with a golden eagle, in turn supported by lion claws.

Below is the finished Left Trophy Wall.

click to enlarge

Next week we'll look at the right wall, which has the same format, but completely different details.

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