Page - 64 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter �64 both Giulio’s and their own designs. In view of Strada’s social standing and his later career, I think it not likely that he would have been content with a minor master; a plausible hypothesis is that he was taught by the goldsmith and med- al maker Niccolò de’ Possevini, otherwise known as Niccolò da Milano. In his autobiography Cellini recounts how Niccolò helped him obtain his first com- mission when he arrived in Mantua in 1528—and how happy he was to get rid of this dangerous competitor. Yet like Cellini, Niccolò must have been an excel- lent modeller, since he is probably identical with the Niccolò da Milano whose collaboration in the stucco decoration of several rooms in the Palazzo del Te is well-documented.46 If he counted Strada among his pupils, this would help to explain the latter’s interest and understanding of this type of decoration. Stra- da’s interest in stucco—after all the medium that was most suited to recreate 46 Cellini 1866, pp. 88–89; Bertolotti 1889, pp. 39 and 65; Th-B 25, p. 435 (Niccolò da Mantova and Niccolò da Milano). Their identity is implied by Sarzi 1988. Figure �.�� Gold and silver-gilt tableware shown on the ‘credenza’ shown in the fresco depicting The Wedding Banquet of Cupid and Psiche, detail of Fig. 1.10.