• Exhibition

    Armor as Wearable Sculpture

    At the National Gallery of Art, lavish gear fit for kings


    There were no casual Fridays at the Imperial Spanish court. In the 16th and 17th centuries, magnificent clothing was an essential emblem of wealth and power. Spanish queens and infantas, as Diego Velázquez's portraits reveal, became superhuman icons in their impossibly wide ­embroidered skirts and broad, stiff collars. For emperors, kings, princes and noblemen, authority and privilege were symbolized by ruffs, lace collars and cuffs, opulent fabrics, tall boots, billowing cloaks and, above all, armor.


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