Page - 57 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

57Early Years confident ease with which Strada moved within the learned circles of erudite scholars, prelates and artists around Cardinals Cervini and Farnese, during his visit to Rome in the 1550s, as much as the recommendation of Strada’s patron, Fugger, and as the first copies of his Epitome thesauri antiquitatum he carried with him.28 1.4 Artistic Training The earliest archival data that provide concrete information about Strada’s career are found in the minutes of the meetings of the Nuremberg Council in the mid-1540s. These make clear that at that time Strada was still active as an artist: he is indicated as ‘Jacob Strada from Mantua, painter (Maler)’, or ‘Jacob Strada, the Italian artist (Künstler or Künstner)’.29 The thousands of numis- matic drawings which were produced in his workshop, part of which at least were produced by Strada himself, demonstrate that he was a quite capable, if not particularly gifted, draughtsman. That Strada was indicated as a ‘Maler’ suggests that he had also learnt at least the rudiments of painting; in fact in an inventory of the contents of the palace of the Duke of Bavaria at Schleißheim, dating from the second half of the eighteenth century, a series of pictures rep- resenting the Liberal Arts is attributed to him.30 Probably as part of his training as a draughtsman, Strada also learnt to execute measured architectural drawings, and this corresponds to an interest in architecture and monumental decoration which is a recurring theme in his career. In the preface to his edition of the Settimo Libro of Sebastiano Serlio’s treatise, he refers to ‘the knowledge I have of architecture, in which I  have always taken great delight, and I still do’.31 Apart from the work he would do in his function as Imperial architect, about which little concrete is known, he Amerbach—dedicated all eight volumes of his Parerga (1538 and 1544) to his pupil Otto Truchseß von Waldburg. Farnese and Granvelle studied in Bologna, Agustín obtained his doctorate in law in Bologna in 1541, where he first arrived at least in 1536. Art historians are usually unaware of Alciati’s prominence as a founding father of Roman law as modern academic discipline: his interest in emblem culture must be considered as a mere erudite pastime, though obviously closely related to his antiquarian studies. 28 See below, Ch. 3.6–3.7. 29 Documents 1546-11-01; 1546-11-02; 1547-03-12. 30 Quoted in Verheyen 1967, p. 65, n. 34; I have not been able to individuate these paintings. Since this attribution is so particular, and Strada certainly was no well-known artist, the attribution must have been based on a signature, locally available sources (older invento- ries) or an old tradition; it therefore deserves to be taken seriously. 31 Serlio, 1575, Preface p. a iiii: ‘la cognitione ch’io ho delle cose del’ Achitettura, della quale mi son sempre dilettato, e diletto<…>’.