Page - 201 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

201Tasks at the Imperial Court Lazius was an important man: a professor of medicine at Vienna University, he was well known for his researches in the ancient history of the Austrian ter- ritories, and was particularly esteemed by its rulers, who appointed him Impe- rial Historiographer and a member of the Reichshofrat or Aulic Council of the Empire. But it appears that his practical experience of classical numismatics was rather limited, and Strada immediately detected several serious mistakes in the sample he was shown.22 Ferdinand had asked him to take text and proofs home with him, and ‘after having carefully read these two gatherings, and hav- ing seen the images of the medals’, he strongly advised the Emperor not to pro- ceed in the matter before having heard his opinion, when ‘I will show you with arguments that otherwise the money is wasted, and not without censure of any- one who will see it’. Though Strada claimed that he did not like to speak ill of the work of others, he felt the Emperor’s command obliged him to speak his mind, and he did not hesitate to offer Ferdinand to undertake the necessary corrections. In fact he probably considered the matter a heaven-sent opportu- nity to press his concrete services on the Emperor. He added that the second part of his manuscript on Republican coinage, promised when he presented Ferdinand with its first volume, would be ready within two months, ‘and will be much better than the first one’. But he also offered to finish on his behalf another work which Ferdinand had seen in his studio (probably a similar work on imperial coinage, the Series Imperatorum), ‘if I am accorded some fair finan- cial compensation, so that I can maintain my small family’. In fact he wished for nothing better than to spend his time in Ferdinand’s service, ‘preparing for him my works, which would be the equal of those made in Rome, where I have learned this science [of numismatics]’. In a beautiful phrase he requested a decision of the Emperor: ‘Hora se la Maestà Vostra li piace di acetarmi nel nu- mero de li suoi virtuosi, del canto mio farò ogni debito per farmi honore’: ‘So if it would please Your Majesty to accept me among his learned men, I on my side will do everything I can to merit honour’. Claiming that he wished to leave Nuremberg anyway and return to Italy, Strada finally pressed Ferdinand for a reply before his departure, scheduled for the next day. 4.2.2 Strada’s Letter to Martin de Guzmán and his Move to Vienna Strada presented his request in person, but Ferdinand wisely did not commit himself as yet. But he did give Strada permission to correct the mistakes he had spotted in the sample of the catalogue. Two weeks later Strada sent the material back to the Emperor, by now in Frankfurt, and repeated his request. In it he refers Ferdinand to a more detailed account of his findings given in 22 DOC. 1558-02-12; transcribed in App. 3a.