Page - 79 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

79Travel—Wenzel Jamnitzer Herman Posthumus, who appears to have been chiefly responsible for the pic- torial side of the decoration.24 Strada might possibly be identified with either of the two Jacopo’s who received payments for their work in the Stadtresidenz; but it is perhaps more likely that he was delegated to keep an eye on the execu- tion of the stuccoes in a similar diplomatic manner as has been suggested for the architecture: in particular to ease the contacts and enhance the mutual comprehension of the artists and the German erudites of Ludwig’s court who bore the final responsibility for the iconographic scheme.25 2.4 Romance in Franconia: Strada’s Marriage and his Settling in Nuremberg If this hypothesis is right, than Strada would have been released from his tasks at Landshut at the latest by the middle of 1543, when the last payments for the decoration of the Stadtresidenz were made. It can be assumed that he had managed in the meantime to obtain a sufficient foothold in the region to de- cide not to return to his native country. This would tally with his contention, in a letter to Archduke Ferdinand ii of Tirol of December 1556, that he had been employed by Hans Jakob Fugger for over twelve years, that is since 1544. In a letter of September 1574 to Jacopo Dani Strada announced the death of his wife, adding that they had been married for thirty years. By 1544, therefore, Strada must have been present in Germany at least sufficiently long to meet his bride, to woo her, and to gain the confidence of her parents.26 She was Ottilie, daughter of Christoph Schenk von Rossberg, the last male representative of a Franconian noble family which reputedly was mentioned already in the tenth century. Long-time owners of the Schenkenschloß or Schenkenturm on the Roßberg just outside Würzburg, the family had fallen on hard times: apart from the 24 On Posthumus, see Dacos 1985; Dacos 1989; Boon 1991. Posthumus has been identified as the so-called ‘Anonymous A’ responsible for a number of drawings (several of them of Mantuan subject-matter) in the so called Berlin-Sketchbooks of Maarten van Heem- skerck. The same hand has been recognized in some drawings in the Strahov-codex, which once made part of Strada’s collection: see Bukovinská/ Fučíková/ Konečný 1984; Juřen 1986; Dacos 1989. 25 On the iconography of the decoration, see Langer/ Heinemann 2009, pp. 116–163 ‘Das Bildprogramm des Italienischen Baus’, and the following ‘Katalog’, pp. 164–347; earlier: Verheyen 1966(b); Bulst 1975; Kronthaler 1987. 26 Doc. 1556-12-22: ‘<…> appresso al Signor Jo[an] Jacopo Fochero in Augusta, et passano dodeci anni ch’io son stato occupato neli suoi lavori <…>’; Doc. 1574-09-09; ‘siamo stati 30 anni insieme’. Strada’s responsibility at Landshut as suggested above would also have contributed to his eligibility, particularly if he had been sent as a Gonzaga courtier.