Hermann Bongarde was the leading German gunmaker working in the Classical French style. He is first documented in 1678, then recorded in Düsseldorf as armourer (Rüstmeister) and court gunmaker (Kurfürstlicher Hofbüchsenmacher) to Johann Wilhelm of Neuburg, Elector Palatine and Duke Jülich-Berg. He continued as maker to the electoral court until his death in 1727. Famed especially for his iron-chiselling, his finest arms comprise two garnitures, the first a fowling-piece and a pair of pistols made before 1690 for Charles V Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (1643-90), now in the Waffensammlung, Vienna (inv. Nos. A 1636-38), the second a fowling-piece, two pistols, a small-sword and a cane (now lost) made about 1690 for the Elector Palatine, now in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (inv. Nos. 13/583, 1031-32,129)