Talk:Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I

Coat of arms in portrait
From the article: QUOTE: In the upper left is the Habsburg coat of arms ... UNQUOTE

Please provide a citation from a source that is likely to have some knowledge.

It's conceivable if you ask a lot of people for the "Habsburg" coat of arms that a ONE amongst them would respond with the coat of arms in this painting. It's also possible that if you ask a lot of people what the arms in the painting are, ONE might say "Habsburg" or "Hapsburg". But I feel that an overwhelming majority of people would answer both questions differently than this article asserts. Most people would say that's the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire (or Emperor, or King of Germany). If you then replied "Correct so far, but could you be more specific?" they'd add "with Austria on its chest". Given some context they might add "with the Habsburg arms derived from Babenberg (not the REAL Habsburg arms (the red lion on gold) of the earlier Counts) that today means 'Austria'".

If I were writing this article I'd say something like "the Habsburg version of the Holy Roman Empire" or "the Holy Roman Empire with the Habsburg escutcheon (that they got via Babenberg) that, today, means 'Austria'". I'm not sure exactly WHAT I'd say but I DO know I would NOT say that those are the arms of the Habsburgs. They're 100% certainly not the arms of any Habsburg who wasn't Holy Roman Emperor, and they're 100% certainly not the coat of arms (not with those red-white-red stripes) of any Holy Roman Emperor preceding the Habsburgs.2604:2000:C682:B600:FC9C:4C2:2514:9A8F (talk) 23:07, 19 July 2016 (UTC)Christopher L. Simpson