Page - 209 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

209Tasks at the Imperial Court me’.34 Strada had finally decided against this because Lazius had not published his pamphlet (though doubtless he had circulated it among his friends at court), and Strada was afraid that he would offend too many people by an open reply. 4.2.6 Outcome of the Affair This letter is the last we hear of the controversy. The planned catalogue was never realized: though Lazius’ numismatic incompetence had been sufficient- ly demonstrated, the Emperor could hardly give the task to someone else. Af- ter his death in 1565 perhaps the need was less felt, because of the presence of Strada’s numismatic manuscripts in the Hofbibliothek, which included most of the more important coins in the Imperial collection.35 The open quarrel between Lazius and Strada was probably hushed up in some way, though they never became friends.36 For Strada the positive aspect of the controversy was that it made his name known to everyone who counted immediately upon his arrival at court: on the principle that even bad publicity is better than no publicity, he could take any hostility he doubtless met with in his stride. He had moreover established his competence as an antiquary, and could claim to King Maximilian to be—as we have seen—’connossiuto per mondo provi- sionato da la Cesarea et [Vostra Maestà] per Jacomo Strada Antiquario’. Though his explicit assumption of the style of Imperial Antiquary appears to have been tacitly condoned by King Maximilian, it was not officially rec- ognized until some years later: the Emperor would have been careful not to offend Lazius’ feelings more than necessary. Because he had been asked to come to court to enter Imperial service, already in November 1558 Strada had requested that he would be formally enrolled in the Hofstaat, the Imperial 34 That Strada did not boast in vain of Vrančić’s interest is borne out by the long letter in Lat- in the Bishop addressed to him a few months later, apostrophising Strada as ‘ urbanissime Strada’ and similar complimentary epithets (DOC. 1558-12-04); cf. below, Ch. 11.1. 35 It should be noted that Strada did not use the Imperial collection for his Διασκευέ, in which hardly any coins are described from the exemplars in Vienna: the drawings and descriptions in his numismatic works were based on the material he had collected in the years before he came to court. 36 Strada did obtain or compile a manuscript based on one of Lazius’ published works, Com- mentariorvm Reipublicae Romanae illius, in exteris prouincijs, bello acquisitis, constitutae, libri duodecim, first printed by Oporinus, Basel 1551, which he intended to republish in an augmented second edition, since it is added to one of the copies of his Index sive cata- logus [Appendix D, nr. 46].