These engravings show a classic 16th century battle scene with a medallion of Marcus Curtius descending into hell.
For completeness I am also showing the medallion from the other side. This shows Gaius Mucius Scaevola putting his hand into the flames. These were two popular and inspiring images at the time and they both appear on the helmet of the royal Saxon guard. The helmet was in the Higgins Armory Collection and kindly made available to me by Kent Russell, curator at the time.
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