Page - 2 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Introduction2 century, when it is listed in an inventory of the picture collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, governor of the Southern Netherlands. It is shown in David Teniers’ painting showing the Archduke paying a visit to his picture gallery in Brussels [Fig. 0.3 and detail]. Its attraction is attested by the inclu- sion of a reproduction engraved by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger in Teniers’ Theatrum artis pictoriae, basically an illustrated inventory of the Archduke’s collection printed in Brussels in 1660 [Fig. 0.5], and by a copy in oils from the late seventeenth century, which is attributed to Pietro della Vecchia [Fig. 0.4].1 The Jacopo Strada was probably Titian’s very last portrait and is, for its ico- nography, an exceptional work within his oeuvre: as such it has often been studied and discussed.2 Tintoretto’s portrait of Ottavio Strada, on the other hand, was virtually unknown until it entered the Rijksmuseum in 1956. It had earlier belonged to the Duke of Marlborough, who in turn had acquired it in the second half of the nineteenth century in France, perhaps directly from 1 By Federico Zeri; published in the catalogue of Armondi Antichità, Brescia: Antologia di Mae- stri Antichi 1990, cat. nr 14. 2 Most recently in the catalogue of the exhibition Rivalités à Venise, Paris, Louvre 2009–2010; cf. Bull 2009a; Crowe / Cavalcaselle 1877–1878, ii, pp. 352–359; Zimmermann 1901; Pope- Hennessy 1966, pp, 145–146; Panofsky 1969, pp. 79–81; Wethey 1969–1975, 2, p. 48–49 and cat. nr. 100, pp. 141–142; Mucchi 1977, pp. 302–304; Hope 1979, pp. 7–10; Freedman 1999; Gentili 2005, pp. 54–56; Ferino-Pagden 2008, cat. nr 1.13. Figure 0.3 David Teniers the Younger, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm Visiting his Picture Gallery in Brussels, ca 1651, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum. The portrait of Jacopo Strada can be seen top left near the window (detail), next to Titian’s portrait of Fabrizio Salvaresi of 1558, which is likewise still preserved in the Kunsthistorisch- es Museum.