Page - 245 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

245Tasks at the Imperial Court himself. Basically he proposed to mediate between patron and executive art- ist, thus outlining a role closely resembling the function of ‘sopracapo’ he had envisaged for himself more than twenty years earlier when involved in Arch- duke Ferdinand’s silver table fountain. Such a role fits in well with the type of consultative capacity that has been outlined in the preceding paragraph. 4.4.2 Strada Employed by Duke Albrecht v of Bavaria There is no indication that Strada’s offer to Archduke Ernest was accepted. On the other hand it is known that Strada did occasionally work for other patrons. Strada’s work for Duke Albrecht v of Bavaria, to whom he was delegated three times, is perhaps the best documented and best published aspect of his career. Since this is the only instance of Strada’s prolonged employment by a princely patron other than the Emperor, a comparison may shed some further light on his activities in Vienna. The principal reason for Strada’s call to Munich, at the advice of Hans Jakob Fugger, was the Duke’s wish to bring together a collection of antique sculpture, and in his three trips to Venice Strada did indeed manage to acquire the bulk of the collection of the patrician Andrea Loredan, important both for its size and its quality. He also bought some further antique statuary and negotiated unsuccessfully for the acquisition of two well known collections of ancient coins, cameos and intaglios. His final account, however, also makes mention of a number of miscellaneous objects intended for the Duke’s Kunstkammer, in- cluding statuettes, paintings and drawings and objets d’art; the latter included a valuable casket in rock-crystal, precious stones and enamel intended to be given by Duke Albrecht’s heir to his prospective bride. But he also had pro- vided a considerable quantity of books, probably manuscripts, and over the years his workshop provided many libri di disegni. This indicates that Strada was prepared to cater to the needs of the three principal components of the impressive complex of collections instituted by Albrecht v: library, Kunstkammer and Antiquarium. His involvement stretched, moreover, beyond the simple acquisition of the objects: he was also concerned in their restoration—engaging and supervising the artists employed—and their eventual placement. His advice in this was in fact deemed of particular importance: Fugger warned the Duke not to abuse the Emperor’s benevolence, in case he might refuse to grant leave to his faithful antiquary when the ar- rangement of the sculpture would be determined. It is clear that Strada’s role in Munich far exceeded that of a simple agent or intermediary: with Fugger’s, his was the leading spirit in the conception at least of the Munich Antiquarium, and very likely of the complex of collections as a whole. His role, moreover, was not limited to consultation: the idea of