Page - 63 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

63Early Years Strada with two interests that would remain fundamental throughout his ca- reer: the study of Antiquity and the practice of architectural design. 1.6 Early Training as a Goldsmith? Strada’s interest in Antiquity, and in particularly in the science of numismatics as expounded by Giulio, moved him—probably even before spending some time at university—to have himself taught the rudiments of the art of the goldsmith. That at least is what he claims in a letter of 1559 to Maximilian, titular King of Bohemia, in which he refers to the craft of the goldsmith as ‘the art which I have learned as a boy, to enable me in time better to learn what I have, thanks to God, learnt with great effort and expense, in the field of antique marbles and medals<…>’.43 In the next chapter his connection with one of the most celebrated representatives of the trade, Wenzel Jamnitzer, will be discussed, together with the question whether Strada ever professionally exercised the craft himself. But if he learned its rudiments ‘da putto’, as a boy, he learned it at Mantua, and the question remains who in the circle of Giulio Romano could have taught him. Giulio himself produced great quantities of designs for goldsmith’s work: part of these were working drawings for pieces that were actually executed for the table or credenza of Federico ii and Car- dinal Ercole—the most splendid witness to this remains the credenza of the Olympian Gods as depicted in the Sala di Psiche [Fig. 1.10, 1.22]—but others should be regarded as light-hearted exercises in mannerist design stimulating a prospective patron’s appetite [Figs. 1.23–1.24].44 Strada would later show his interest in these designs not only by acquiring an ample quantity of them after Giulio’s death, but also by having them cop- ied in his workshop on behalf of his own patrons.45 Yet Giulio himself was no practising goldsmith, and therefore Strada cannot have learned the craft under the master’s own supervision. It is more likely that he learned it in the work- shop of one of the Gonzaga’s goldsmiths employed in the actual execution of pp. 525; Günther 1988, pp. 326 and Burns 1989<a>. On a preserved set of drawings of the column of Trajan, see Arasse 1984. 43 Doc. 1559-06-00: ‘<…>[l’] arte ch’io ho da putto imparato, per meglio poter poi col tempo venir ad apprendere quello che per gratia di dio ho con gran fattica et spesa apresso, in parte dal[l]’ antichità de marmi et medaglie<…>’. 44 On Giulio Romano as a designer of goldsmith’s work, see Hartt 1958; Hayward 1970; Bukov- inská/ Fučíková/ Konečný 1984; Ugo Bazzotti, ‘Disegni per argenterie’, in Giulio Romano 1989, pp. 454–465. 45 Discussed in detail in Bukovinská/ Fučíková/ Konečný 1984.