Page - 101 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

101Travel—Wenzel Jamnitzer modello prepared by one of Jamnitzer’s assistants on the basis of one or more designs provided by others.73 Merely on the basis of Strada’s later close connection with Jamnitzer it might be supposed that he had a hand in this design. But that is rendered even more plausible by a comparison between the Visierung [Fig. 2.20 and 2.22] and Strada’s autograph drawings, such as the title page of Strada’s Magnum ac novum opus in Gotha [Fig. 2.23–2.24]. Just like the Visierung, the title page is drawn in pen and brown ink and a lighter wash; the title page of Strada’s Imag- ines omnium numismatum antiquorum in Paris, dated 1554, repeats the Gotha design, but is coloured in watercolour and gouache, and therefore even closer to the spirit of the Visierung.74 Both drawings include motifs also found in the Visierung, such as the garlands of fruits and flowers and the putti in precarious positions. Moreover it seems to reflect an artistic sensibility that is quite close to that of the design of the Tafelaufsatz. The ‘German’ character of the Visier- ung in general, and of certain details, such as the cartouches for the inscrip- tions, does not exclude the involvement of Strada: it can easily be explained as the effect of the collaboration between an Italian and a German artist. Even if Strada should not have been present at Landshut in the late 1530s, he had 73 Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Graphische Sammlung, inv. nr HZ 5360, Kapsel 1055; on line: http://objektkatalog.gnm.de/objekt/Hz5360; cf. Wenzel Jamnitzer 1985, cat. nr 299 (pp. 342–342); In den hellsten Farben 2003, cat. nr 11, pp. 3839. 74 Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Ms 1019; on-line http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52 5049095.r=Strada%2C%20J. Figures 2.23–2.24 Jacopo Strada, Title page of his Magnum ac novum opus (details of Fig. 2.19). Figure 2.22 Workshop of Wenzel Jamnitzer, Visierung for the Merkelsche Tafelaufsatz (detail of Fig. 2.20 ).