Page - 179 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

179In Hans Jakob Fugger’s Service Giovanni Battista Scultori had executed similar documentation on behalf of Granvelle already in 1547—in this case of the decoration of the Sistine Chapel and of Giulio Romano’s Sala de’ Giganti in the Palazzo del Te at Mantua—and doubtless now also contributed to Strada’s collection, since after Scultori’s death Strada would praise the work he had done for him.130 The anonymous draughtsmen of the Codex Coburgensis likewise may have been among the artists Strada employed at this time: his manner suggested a Mantuan origin to Richard Harprath; his use of clearly distinguished parallel hatchings is reflected in the title-pages of some of Strada’s later manuscripts [Figs. 3.94–3.95, cf. Figs. 3.22–3.23].131 The preparation of such material for Strada and for other visitors to what in fact was a burgeoning tourist attraction must have been quite a welcome source of income for young artists embarking on their career by studying Roman antiquities and the canonical works of the great masters of Renaissance Rome. 3.8.3 Acquisition of the Drawings Left by Perino del Vaga and Giulio Romano Strada’s acquisitions doubtless also included many drawings (probably also prints) which he could buy ready-made from draughtsmen, engravers and booksellers specializing in this trade, or which he found occasion to purchase from other collectors tempted by the generous prices Strada appears to have of- fered.132 Chief among such occasional purchases was his acquisition of all the messer]. Iacopo Strada. Lo fo a causa [di non] pigliar errore’; the codex is published in Huelsen 1933, 6–7, no. 21, fol. 8v.; cf. Tedeschi Grisanti 1983, p. 70; Casamassima/Rubinstein 1993, p.  xii.; Rubinstein 1989, p. 204; cf. below, Ch. 11.4. 130 Greppi 1977, pp. 45–52, especially letters nrs 1–3; but it should be noted that Scultori pre- pared these in Mantua from copies—by Marcello Venusti—he had at his disposal; cf. Lincoln 1997. The series is kept at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid; Giovan Battista’s son Adamo engraved a series of Ignudi of the Sistine ceiling which was published around 1550; cf. Bellini/Salzi 1991, pp. 64–104; Strada refers to Scultori and the work he had done in a letter to the Duke of Mantua of 1577 (Doc 1577-10-04 A). 131 Series Imp<eratorum> Ro<manorum>, Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, Ms. A 1243a and Se- ries Romanorum ac Graecorum ac Germanorum imperatorum, önb-hs, Cod. 9413–9518. Though the approach is comparable to some extent, the hands of the draughtsmen differ (f.i. use of hatching for the background of the relief is similar, but the manner in which this is done—horizontal vs vertical—differs). On the draughtsman of the Codex Coburgensis (Veste Coburg, Cod. HZ ii), see Richard Harprath, ‘Zeichentechnik und kün- stlerische Persönlichkeit des Meister des Codex Coburgensis’, in Harprath/Wrede 1989, pp. 127–140. 132 According to Armenini Strada paid royally (‘realmente’) for the documentation of the Vatican Loggia. When acquiring antiquities in Venice in the 1560s Strada was likewise reputed to have paid high prices (below, Ch. 12).