Caravaggio - paintings of armor and edged weapons 1590s-1610

[Philip]

Originally Posted by shayde78

Judith Beheading Holofernes; date disputed (as early as 1598 - as late as 1607).

it shows what I think is an attempt to portray an 'exotic' blade. However, such blades were frequently represented in Medieval manuscripts

Back to the blade in Judith's hand - it is beautifully rendered and, if recreated in the round, would surely be a functional knife. Once again, the fullers are clearly shown and, to me, demonstrates that the artist was well acquainted with the work of actual bladesmiths. .

These cutlasses or short sabers with clipped points have a long history in Italy, having been in use for over two centuries. The painting below is San Michele ed il drago, by Antonio del Pollaiolo, ca 1466-80, in the museum of the Cathedral of Florence. An early Renaissance work, it depicts a weapon with the medieval-style "wheel" pommel but whose guard sports a rudimentary knucklebow which is the forerunner of a trend beginning early in the next century in northern Italy, from the Venetian spada da fante to the swept-hilt rapier hilts of Milan, Belluno, and other areas.

The photo is of an actual and magnificent example of one of these weapons, a coltellacio (big knife) ca. 1570, probably Brescian (Dresdner Rüstkammer, inv. no. HM VI.379, published along with above painting in Boccia/Coelho, Armi Bianche Italiane, 1975). Talk about fullers -- note the multiple rows of segmented fullers, cut as precisely as you please, a hallmark of deluxe blades of all kinds made in Brescia. A princely sword, in near perfect condition, the blade surface with intact polish (lucidatura), a painstaking process admired in the rest of Europe as well, and commonly referred to as "Milan polish".