Page - 84 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 284 painter and engraver Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531), some Nuremberg goldsmiths and other craftsmen built up real studio collections ‘of outstanding variety’. Quiccheberg mentions Wenzel Jamnitzer and one Mositzer, doubtless the medallist Hans Maslitzer (1503–1574).37 Apart from engravings, such collec- tions were probably particularly rich in ancient and modern coins and medals, as well as in gems, cameos and intaglios. Moreover, it cannot always have been very easy to maintain the distinction between private collection and stock-in- trade. With such colleagues Strada will have consorted regularly—partly to satisfy his erudite interests, partly because of his interest in their professional skills. 2.5.1 A Commission from Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, Marquis of Marignano The extraordinary fame of its goldsmiths and its pre-eminence as a centre of artistic creation in general were probably among the principal reasons why Strada chose to settle in Nuremberg. The entries in the minutes of the City Council of Nuremberg, in which Strada is repeatedly mentioned as ‘Künstler’ or ‘Künstner’ and as ‘Maler’, indicate that he at least occasionally exercised the arts he had been taught at Mantua.38 The entry of 12 March 1547, though brief, is of particular interest because it provides the identity of one of Strada’s ear- liest patrons, and at first sight seems to suggest that he set up a goldsmith’s workshop: Jacoben di Strada, the artist, to allow him, at the request of the Marquis de Malingan, to make in his own house for His Grace the silver and gilt work that he intends to commission from him; and also that he can em- ploy a master goldsmith or journeyman…39 The ‘Markess de Malingan’, whose request on behalf of Strada was thus granted, can be identified with a notorious condottiere, Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, Mar- chese of Marignano (1495–1555).40 [Fig. 2.13] After his unsuccessful attempts to create a feudal state in the Brianza, and even to substitute the extinct Sforza Dukes of Milan, ‘Il Medeghino’, as he was also called, had made his peace with 37 Quiccheberg 1565, p. D ii-r. 38 Docs. 1546-11-01; 1546-11-02; 1547-03-12. 39 Doc. 1547-03-12: ‘Jacoben di Strada, dem Künstner, auf des Markess de Malingan begern zulassen, das er sein f[ürstliche] G[naden] ir silber und vergült Arbeit, so er ime andingen will, in Hauss machen, auch ein Maister oder Gesellen Goldschmidhantwerks zu ime ne- men mög’. 40 This identification was first proposed by Hayward 1976, p. 47.