Pompeo della Cesa

The young Pompeo della Cesa (or Chiesa), son of one Vincenzo, is documented as living near the Porta Comasina in Milan at the end of May 1560. This area, within the parish of Santa Maria Segreta, was near the heart of the armourers' quarter, and Pompeo seems to have been working for the armourer Giovan Pietro da Ferno at the time. By 1570 Pompeo was a master in this own right. In 1586 he was paid the balance for an armour he made for Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, and in 1592 received payment for an armour for the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I Gonzaga. By that same year he held a court appointment to Philip II of Spain, who was also Duke of Milan. Among his other patrons were on the of the Dukes of Infantado, Francesco I dei Medici, Juan Fernández Pachecho who was the 5th Duke of Escalona, and a member of the Borromeo family, perhaps Renate (d. 1608). He may also have worked for the Sir Henry or Sir William Herbert, 1st and 2nd Earls of Pembroke of the second creation. He died on March 21st 1610 in his house near the Porta Romana, Milan.

Text © Wallace Collection, 2017