Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tent Poles Sunk into Holes at Pavia


Wolf Huber, The Battle of Pavia 1525, Drawing c. 1530. Detail

This detail of the overrun French camp at Pavia shows tent posts remaining upright event though two have snapped off several feet above the ground and the others' guy ropes are unstaked and hanging loose. Evidently they were sunk into holes and fixed straight upright by driving in stakes around the base.

This helps explain the very thick pavilion poles seen in many Italian paintings.

My thanks to Robert MacPherson for spotting this.

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