Stephen Bathory's Armour

Jan Matejko built his enormous history paintings out of real objects. For his canvas of King Stefan Batory receiving beaten Russian envoys at Pskov, he wanted the king to look right, so he studied an actual suit of armour said to be Batory's, a gilded half-armour of Hungarian type from the mid-16th century. He had first sketched it as a student in Vienna back in 1860, and came back to it for the big picture. This is that study, made in 1871. The breastplate, shoulder guards and a gauntlet are set out with a Hungarian sabre below, each buckle and gilded band recorded closely. Batory ruled Poland from 1576 to 1586. Matejko gave the finished study to his own secretary, Marian Gorzkowski.