Page - 246 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 4246 constructing a new, separate building to house both library and antiquities— the first true museum north of the Alps, and one of the earliest in Europe— appears to have been his. When this idea was adopted, he contributed a concrete proposal, demonstrating his architectural expertise in a careful, el- egant and not impracticable Italianate design, which, unfortunately, proved to be beyond the Duke’s purse, or his German masons’ competence.101 4.4.3 Strada’s Bid for Employment by the Elector August of Saxony Strada’s activities in Munich had been explicitly requested and, it appears, well rewarded. Strada needed such income partly to finance the construction of his house, partly for the editorial projects he undertook from the early 1570s onward. Though Emperor Maximilian ii did support his projects, he was not willing or capable of providing the large-scale financial backing necessary to realize them, which may have been the reason that, shortly before his death, he allowed Strada to apply to one of his best friends and allies in the Empire, the Elector August of Saxony. Early in September 1576, when presiding the Diet at Regensburg, he wrote to the Elector to inform him that Strada intended to come to Saxony, ‘um sich daselbst in baumeisterei und andern kunstreichen sachen daran Dero Liebden ungeurlich lust und gefallens tragen mochte geprauchen zu lassen’: ‘in order to be employed in architecture and other artistic endeav- ours in which your worship takes such extraordinary interest and pleasure’. By this time Maximilian appears to have been more willing to let Strada go, per- haps merely to enable him to obtain funds useful in the realization of the proj- ects of his antiquary—which after all would increase the prestige of his court. On the other hand it is possible that his financial resources did no longer allow the Emperor to undertake the type of project in which Strada’s exper- tise could be profitably employed: he would be happy to secure for his faithful servant some other opportunity to exercise his talents. It is remarkable that Strada is recommended for his artistic rather than for his scholarly capacity, probably because this corresponded most with August’s own interests. From the few documents available it appears that Strada undertook his trip to Sax- ony at his own initiative, rather than at the Elector’s invitation, and there is no evidence that his offer was accepted.102 101 On Strada’s acquisition for the Duke of Bavaria and his concept and designs for the Munich Antiquarium, see below, Chs. 8 and 12.3. 102 Lietzmann 1987, pp. 129–130. Strada had already visited Elector August in person, at Anna- burg in or before 1574, when he lent him a book with drawings of Roman Imperial portrait busts, in order to have it copied; both the original and the copy are still preserved in the Dresden Kupferstichkabinett (Ms CA 74) and the Sächsische Landes- und Universitäts- bibliothek Dresden, Ms. Mscr.Dresd.App.187; cf. JansenMetze (forthcoming).