"Late 15th Century Milanese Shield Designs" Topic

This site might be of interest to those modeling 15th century Milanese infantry companies:

link

There are some real interesting patterns or designs--for example:

The designs would be found on round shields or shields "tending towards" oval shape, as shown in the Schilling print below. The shields were originally on display in the Museum at Lucern, Switzerland, having been captured, it appears, at the battle of Giornico in 1478:

Another link associated with the above website contains clear versions of some of the above shields:

link

(Scroll down to the bottom of the page).

Very Helpful!

Thanks for the link. In the Gallery section there is a magnificent model of Ludovico Sforza "il Moro".

link

Cheers,

Good resource, thanks!

wow, great find.
Now we need to alert those great makers of shield transfers – LBMS, Flag of War, et al – to make some up to fit the new Perrys Italian sword and shield figures!!
:)
Cheers
Simon.

In the Gallery section there is a magnificent model of Ludovico Sforza "il Moro".

What a magnificent piece! If only I could paint like that for my 28mm!

Then there's this item showing some detail of foot soldiers:

That site is quite the treasure trove.

Now we need to alert those great makers of shield transfers – LBMS, Flag of War, et al

I wonder if they do custom designs? Perhaps an e-mail to them will answer that question?

Too bad that shields were few by then, and that most designs were too complex to paint: being "quartered" or even "hexed", as Sforza is an example of above….

Really!? What are your sources?

Maybe in other parts of Europe, but in Italy, shields were still in fairly widespread use by Italian foot.

A glance through Hale's work on Artists and Warfare shows use of oval and round shields by Italian foot very frequently during the period. Another source of interest would be (if you read Italian): Armi e armati nell'Italia dei secoli XV-XVI. It contains several illustrations of Italian foot through the 15th and 16th centuries (hence the title), based on artwork from the period. Shields are almost ubiquitous in the 15th century illustrations. Here's an example:

link

The patterns are complex--that's why decal paper was invented!

Thanks for the info, I might be doing some Milanese infantrymen one year.

Those look quite intricate designs, though.

Those look quite intricate designs, though.

Ahh, well I'm sure a painter with your talent can take on such challenging, intricate designs!

I loved the painted wheels on the cannon. I never knew they did that. Now I'll have to go AND REPAINT MY ARTILLERY!!

Thanks for posting this!!

It will be invaluable for the Battle of Fornovo that i plan to put on as a demo game.

Much appreciated!