The height of heraldic art was between the 13th and 16th centuries, both from an artistic and a utilitarian point of view. Its norms were fairly strict, both as far as content of arms and their presentation were concerned: for instance, different helm positions were supposed to correspond to degrees of nobility, as did crowns and coronets, but enforcement was difficult. As ex-libris were ‘private’ works of art, owners sometimes cheated a bit and saw to it that the artist’s composition reflected higher rank than reality. But if one talks of heraldic decadence, which is apparent in the 17th century already, one refers mainly to bad artistic heraldic usage, and to errors in the presentation of arms. These became widespread after the French revolution, as heraldry to a great extent fell into disuse. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, artists interested in heraldry, such as A.M. Hildebrandt and Otto Hupp in Germany, turned back to a purer mediaeval armorial style, and their compositions – including ex-libris – for armigerous persons regained strength and beauty. In the 20th century, new generations of artists followed suit, and although heraldic ex-libris tend to be rarer in this century than ever before, many of them are of good artistic and heraldic quality, expressing the traditional norms in pleasing modern pictorial terms.