Page - 186 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 3186 Bologna before arriving in Mantua.142 Moreover it is possible that Strada also took the occasion to (re)visit Venice. Next to Rome and Florence, Venice was the principal artistic centre of the peninsula, the great emporium of objects from the near and further East—including Greek antiquities, and the principal centre of high-quality book production: all three subjects that were of para- mount importance for Strada and for his patron. In fact Strada’s publication of the two books he had just acquired from Panvinio—both came out in 1557— presupposes an earlier visit in order to find a suitable printer and to commis- sion the carving of the woodcuts illustrating the arms of the respective Popes from some of Venice’s famous engravers [below, Figs. 14.15–14.17].143 Whether he did visit Venice on this occasion, or did not, Strada was back in Nuremberg at the very latest somewhere in the late summer or early autumn of 1556: by December of that year he was already contemplating new activities, which will be discussed in the next chapter. Strada’s departure from Rome can be considered as a turning point in his career. His reference to his hopes of employment by the Pope indicates that he had not yet definitely decided what his career was to be, and where he hoped to realize his ambitions. But he had finally completed the foundation upon which it could be built: after his early education in Mantua, he had enriched his formal knowledge by his contacts with humanists in Italy, Germany and France and by means of his studies in the cabinets of many learned collec- tors had acquired a specialized competence in ancient numismatics, one of the principal branches of antiquarian studies. His contacts with Hans Jakob Fugger had been of particular significance: Fugger had provided him with the 142 If Strada did visit Florence on this occasion, he remained too briefly to study the Medici medagliere and other collections: in the Διασκευέ no Florentine provenances are given, except for one or two coins from the Medici collection, which he may well have known from correspondence or copies. Though Strada personally knew Jacopo Dani, a secretary of Cosimo i with whom he would correspond later in his career, he probably first met him only when Dani acted as secretary to the Tuscan embassy at the Imperial court. 143 Panvinio 1557<a>: Fasti et triumphi Romanorum a Romulo Rege usque ad Carolum v <…>, sive epitome regum, consulum, dictatorum, magistratorum <…> ex antiquitatum monumen- tis maxima cum fide ac diligentia desumpta, Venezia 1557 and Panvinio 1557<b>: Epitome pontificum romanorum a S. Petro usque ad Paulum iii gestorum <…>, Venezia 1557. The en- graving would take less time than one would think: the Epitome pontificum was illustrated only by the coats of arms of the Popes and the principal cardinals they had created. The frames of the shield could and were printed from a limited number of blocks; the arms of families such the Orsini who provided many Popes and cardinals could be used repeat- edly; and the arms of many Popes were not known, the framed shield remaining empty. The Fasti et Triumphi were illustrated by medal portraits for which the blocks of Strada’s Lyon Epitome thesauri antiquitatum were reused. See below, Ch. 14.4.