Page - 137 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

137In Hans Jakob Fugger’s Service Jakob Fugger refers to his first-hand experience of, and his full confidence in Strada’s competence in the field of architectural design.49 3.5 Strada’s Trips to Lyon Strada’s first visit to Lyon took place in 1550, according to the preface to his edi- tion of Serlio’s Settimo Libro. The primary motive of his trip was presumably his desire to make the first arrangements for the publication of his Epitome thesau- ri antiquitatum, and probably during this first sojourn he found a partner—the Netherlandish bookseller Thomas Guérin—to finance the printing, and came to some provisional agreement with the printer, Jean de Tournes; with the wood-engraver, probably Bernard Salomon; and with Jean Louveau, the author of the French translation [Figs. 3.20–3.22].50 At first sight it seems odd that Strada should have decided to print his book in Lyon, where Fugger—who probably bore part of the expense—had no commercial contacts, instead of other centres of printing such as Frankfurt, Nuremberg, or Venice. The reputation of its printers cannot have been the sole motive of Strada’s choice: though it might have been difficult to find a wood- engraver of a sufficiently advanced style in Germany, in Venice he certainly would have. Perhaps just because the Fugger, unlike other German bankers, were not represented in Lyon—they were too closely tied to the Habsburg in- terest to maintain branches in France—Hans Jakob was glad to create an op- portunity to establish or renew contacts with a major intellectual centre in Europe, and to obtain the material for his library and collection (books, manu- scripts, medals, perhaps other antiquities) that Strada could select for him. 3.5.1 The Humanist Circle in Lyon Through his Italian connections, Strada must have been aware of the wealth and intellectual life of the town, which boasted a veritable colony of merchants and bankers from Florence, Lucca, Lombardy and Genoa, with some of whom he may have had contacts. Like many other Nuremberg merchants, Strada’s acquaintance Willibald Imhoff did maintain very close ties with Lyon, and may 49 Doc. 1568-11-13: Hans Jakob Fugger to Strada, Taufkirchen, 13 November 1568. If the Donau- wörth Stübchen and portals were designed by Strada, than so were at least some of the ceilings in the Fugger castle at Babenhausen, which are stylistically very close (lieb 1958, Figs. 209–210). 50 For more detailed information on Strada’s activities as a publisher, see Jansen 2004; and below, Ch. 14.