Page - 65 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

65Early Years the atmosphere of Antiquity—can be inferred from the detailed documenta- tion he commissioned of Raphael’s Vatican Loggia and of the decoration of the Palazzo del Te itself; his understanding of the medium is demonstrated by the rather jewel-like decoration of some rooms in the castle at Bučovice in Moravia, with which Strada can be linked, and with its lost examples in the Vienna Neugebäude, which were executed on behalf of Maximilian ii in the early 1570s, possibly likewise under Strada’s general supervision.47 1.7 Significance of his Mantuan Background for Strada’s Development Apart from the formal training Strada received there, the general knowledge and experience that Strada could acquire in such a lively, fecund and exciting artistic milieu as was the Mantua of Isabella d’Este and Giulio Romano, must have been invaluable for his later career. The erudite atmosphere at the Gonzaga court was fostered both by Isabella d’Este and her son, the Marquis Federico, whose patronage attached such scholars as Paride da Ceresara, Mario Equic- ola and—somewhat later—Benedetto Lampridio, and who employed such 47 On Strada’s commission of the drawings of Raphael’s Loggia, see below, Ch. 3.7 and Ch. 13; on the Neugebäude, Ch. 9; on Bučovice, Ch. 10. Figure �.�3–�.�4 Giulio Romano, designs for a silver or gold salt cellar and for a two-handled drinking vessel.