In 2016, the early sixteenth-century harness of Baron Wilhelm von Rogendorf in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum returned on view, after a decade off display for restoration. Even among the gilded treasures of the Hapsburg dynasty, this curious armor immediately stops visitors in their tracks. The armor is magnificent, produced for a man over six feet tall, with a globose breastplate, massive billowing sleeves, and a prominent codpiece. Its outrageous form and decoration practically demands attention. Though considered one of the great masterpieces of the collection, the armor’s history, the sociopolitical context of its original owner, and its function have remained obscure for centuries, deficiencies rectified by this book. Stefan Krause, the newly appointed managing director of the Imperial Armory, breathes new life into the genre of monographic studies on single armors, which are traditionally very specialized, technically scrutinizing every rivet and hole. This accessible study will appeal equally to a general audience and to scholars of sixteenth-century fashion, court culture, and artistic patronage.

The book opens with high-quality, immersive, full-page images of the armor in the round, forming a springboard for the illustrated essays that follow. Beginning the investigation, the date 1523 was discovered during restoration etched onto the shoulder strap of the armor. Krause expands on the context of this date. At that time Rogendorf was a commander of the Hapsburg emperor Charles V’s Landsknechte (mercenary infantrymen), whose outlandish and elaborate costume this armor mimics. Developments in infantry battlefield tactics and the opportunities for currying imperial favor through the successful leadership of these soldiers of fortune form the cultural backdrop for Rogendorf and his armor.

Krause’s most important contribution to the field is in chapter 2, where he synthesizes visual and documentary sources and the consensus of scholarly opinions on the origins of the slashed and puffed fashion trend that endured the long sixteenth century. Scholars have long conjectured that the trend likely derives from cuts made at junctures in tight clothing of the nobility in the fifteenth century. By the early sixteenth century the fashion was adopted and exaggerated by the lowly Landsknechte, who in turn influenced the nobility. A recurring period anecdote is noted whereby commanders and even the emperor occasionally put on the guise of the Landsknecht as a sign of solidarity. It is within this context that Krause effectively argues we should read the fashion of Rogendorf’s armor. Here imitation goes a step further, as the soft and pliable slashed and puffed silk and leather of Landsknecht costume is ironically translated into the intractable material of hardened steel.

Later chapters discuss the concept of costume armors, like Rogendorf’s, that push the boundary of form and function in the name of fashion. These rare harnesses may have been for tournaments or festivities, where nobles might don the persona of the perilous Landsknecht. Perhaps in this very armor, Rogendorf is known to have participated in such spectacles, as well as triumphal entries into cities. Krause also considers the more practical battlefield functions of this armor as reconstructed from existing additional or interchangeable parts and others pieces that are lost. Scholar Andreas Zajic contributes to this volume with a chronicle of the history of the little-known Rogendorf family, its rise and abrupt fall, and their patronage of art and participation in the culture of collecting—entirely new research that puts the armor into wide perspective. The final chapter by Krause reviews the armor’s provenance, how it came to survive in the Hapsburg armory, and the history of its display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

This work brings together an exciting array of brilliantly photographed supportive illustrations, many of which are fresh and rarely reproduced. For example, costume historians will recognize the images from Matthäus Schwarz’s Book of Clothes, but perhaps less known is a naïve but revealing sketch of a Landsknecht by Paul Dolnstein from the Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv. In the guise of a digestible coffee-table book, Krause uses this exceptional armor as an insightful window into Renaissance culture. This tightly woven narrative, a synthesis of original visual and written documentation, will be a valuable and lasting resource for scholars of the period.