Page - 210 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 4210 household, and that a salary should be fixed.37 But the first record of payment we have dates only from a year later, when he received his annual salary of 200 Gulden. This was the remuneration that a month later, 31 January 1560, was decided upon when Ferdinand finally granted him an official appointment: not, it should be noted, as Imperial Antiquary, but as ‘ein Baumeister bey unsen Gebewen alhier’: an architect for the Imperial buildings in Vienna.38 Only in 1563, shortly before Ferdinand’s death, Strada would be accorded a second Pension or Dienstgeld of 100 Gulden, in the capacity of ‘Diener und Antiquarius’, servant and antiquary.39 So Strada had finally realized his am- bition to obtain the patronage of the principal secular ruler of Christianity. He would serve Ferdinand i and his successors in his double capacity un- til 1579, when he resigned his court-appointments; having settled in Vienna, he soon acquired a house of his own, and would remain there for the rest of his life. 4.3 ‘Obwol Ir.Maj. den Strada selbst dier Zeit wol zu geprauchen”: Strada’s Tasks at Court 4.3.1 Introduction Strada’s decision to move to Vienna indicates that he highly appreciated the Imperial patronage which he had obtained, and which he managed to retain for twenty years. I have elsewhere discussed the advantages it brought him, by reviewing the instruments of patronage available to Ferdinand and Maximil- ian and listing their application in Strada’s case.40 Though where men of letters and learning, artists, musicians, and so on were involved, the criteria governing their application may have deviated from the norm, these instruments were essentially the same as those employed to bind any potentially useful servant to the ruler, or to reward the achievements of any deserving subject. As in oth- er cases, the patronage Strada enjoyed was partly composed of a string of small favours and privileges, the cumulative importance of which counterbalanced the periodical remuneration he received. Yet the salary or pension remained the most important single element of the reward, because it was the most for- mal expression of the relationship existing between patron and ‘client’. As such 37 DOCS. 1558-10-00, 1558-11-00 and 1558-11-24; from the latter it transpires that Hans Lauten- sack had supported Strada’s request, or had been asked for comment. 38 DOC. 1559-12-20 and 1560-01-31. 39 DOC. 1563-00-00. 40 Jansen 1988<c>; slightly revised English version: Jansen 1992.