Page - 216 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 4216 preserved in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek appear to have been an explicit commission. Basically they should be regarded as an alternative to the catalogue raisonné of the Imperial coin collection that—as we have seen above—was never realized. It is not known when exactly they were presented to the Emperor, but in December 1575 Strada first applied to be paid for them. He had to repeat this request many times, and only in August of 1577 Rudolf ii accorded him 600 Thaler, exactly the same amount per volume that he had received as Ehrengeschenk for the earlier volumes.54 It is not clear whether this sum was actually paid, and it may be that an unusual draft on the revenue of Silesia granted him in November of the same year, for which no motivation is given, represents the payment due to him.55 Nonetheless even in the 1580s Strada still had to sue for payment of his outstanding dues from the Hofkam- mer, including both the arrears of his salary and the payment for books pro- vided: the latter referring either to the manuscript volumes of the Series or, perhaps more likely, to books from his studio that he had provided to the Hof- bibliothek or to the Emperor, Rudolf ii, himself.56 4.3.3 Was this Really All? Locating the Blank Spots on the Map Altogether this list is rather modest: in twenty years of service Strada had three times advised on important projects, produced an estimate of a fourth, and rendered an unspecified service in connection with a fifth. He had further provided the Emperor with some antique sculpture, eight important and ex- pensive manuscript volumes from his own workshop and—possibly—some printed books from his studio, for all of which he had been separately paid. The design for the Neugebäude—date and wording of the source strongly suggests that this was probably a general plan, not just a design for a minor detail— is the only one of his recorded services that is in keeping with the function he held and the salary he received. Several arguments can be proposed to ex- plain this apparent discrepancy, linked on the one hand to the character of the sources, on the other hand to the character of the services in themselves. 54 DOCS. 1575-12-00; 1576-05-00; 1576-08-00; 1577-02-13; 1577-02-18<b>; 1577-03-10; 1577-03-18; 1577-08-02; 1578-10-00; all seem to refer to payment for the same six volumes originally delivered to Maximilian ii, for which Rudolf in August 1577 finally accorded a sum of 600 Thaler, but which were not yet actually paid in 1578. 55 DOC. 1577-11-00; the grant was probably intended as (part of?) the payment due to Strada for the six books of the Series Imperatorum, though it might refer to other goods—works of art, antiques, books from Strada’s Musaeum?—he had purveyed to the Emperor. It can- not refer to his regular salary, since this is all accounted for in the financial deliberations relating to his discharge in 1579. 56 DOCS. 1579-10-15; 1579-10-30; 1580-04-26(a, b, c); 1580-08-02; 1582-03-28; 1582-06-19.