Page - 106 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 2106 These considerations support the hypothesis that Strada was at least infor- mally involved in the coordination of the intricate politico-dynastic iconogra- phy of the Schöner Brunnen, Maximilian ii’s biggest artistic commission next to the Neugebäude, for which it was probably intended, and Wenzel Jamnitzer’s absolute chef d’œuvre. The same holds for the Madrid reliquary, which Maxi- milian commissioned for his beloved wife, the Empress Maria, a commission that was hardly less important than the Schöner Brunnen, and for the Kai- serpokal, a luxury object celebrating the Landsberger Bund, and therefore of particular political significance to its intended recipient: again the Emperor Maximilian ii.82 A role of Strada as an intermediary would perfectly explain the relative scarcity of written sources on these important commissions. Both as Imperial Antiquary and as a material expert he would have participated in the deliberations about these commissions at court. Both as a material expert and as a close acquaintance of Jamnitzer he would have been charged with conveying the Emperor’s resulting oral instructions to Jamnitzer. This he could do either in a private letter or in person—we know he regularly travelled to the Frankfurt book fair, and would spend some time in Nuremberg on the way. In all these cases it can be excluded that Strada participated in the physical execution of the objects. On the contrary, it can be assumed that even in 1547, when he accepted the Marquis of Marignano’s commission, Strada considered himself rather as the ‘sopradicapo’ of the project, on the lines of his later pro- posal to Archduke Ferdinand, rather than as a mere goldsmith. Though he may have participated in the actual execution of the object to some minimal ex- tent, his chief task would have been the design of the object, the elaboration of its iconography, and the coordination and supervision of the masters charged with its execution. Had he done more, he would hardly have had time left for the other activities that occupied him during his stay in Nuremberg, and in particular for the erudite studies that were stimulated and commissioned by his chief patron in the late 1540s, Hans Jakob Fugger, which will be the subject of the next chapter. 82 Czogalla 2007. It should be noted that Strada’s patron and friend, Hans Jakob Fugger, as a representative of Duke Albrecht v of Bavaria, had been very closely involved in the nego- tiations that led to the institution of the Landsberger Bund.