|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
Armed with an Identity | |
|
|
A coat of arms is a design, usually in a shield shape, that identifies an individual or a family. In medieval Europe, knights in armor going into battle or jousting in tournaments carried shields and banners displaying their coats of arms or other heraldic emblems. (Heraldry is the system of designing and assigning coats of arms.) These vivid symbols in bold colors helped soldiers tell friend from foe. Coats of arms were granted by kings and queens to their knights and nobles. This Italian coat of arms belonged to the Borghese family of Rome. It can be traced to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a great patron of the arts. This high-ranking churchman had one of the largest art collections in all of Europe, and his support helped the sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini become 17th-century Italy’s leader in the baroque style of art. The coat of arms has a crowned eagle above a dragon, three cherubs just above the shield, and, at the very top, the Borghese family’s princely crown. At first knights and nobles were free to chose their own symbols. But as more and more coats of arms were granted—and used as seals on legal documents as well as battlefield emblems—the imagery became strictly regulated. Today coats of arms are still used around the world for various purposes. But they are now granted to highly esteemed people whatever their social status. To see a portrait of Cardinal Scipione Borghese by Bernini from the J. Paul Getty Museum, click here. |
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
+
+
+
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
November 2009
|
||