Page - 248 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 4248 it is very likely that Strada was involved in the planning and the design of the decoration of these rooms, in addition to supplying some of their contents.104 4.5 Conclusion Taken together, the summary of the services Strada had rendered at the Im- perial court as given in his letter to Archduke Ernest, and his similar activities for other patrons as known from other sources, allow the conclusion that his concrete tasks at court did exceed those few that are documented. In view of Strada’s unique artistic and antiquarian expertise it can be assumed that he was kept abreast of Imperial commissions in these fields and was expected to tender his advice even when he was not formally requested to do so. More explicit con- tributions will have been rarer, though even these must have largely exceeded the documented instances. In these cases Strada appears to have limited him- self to provide the ‘invention’ for projected commissions and the subsequent supervision of their execution. But he rarely—if ever—executed them himself; his part in such commissions would therefore not be registered in the accounts. One should, on the other hand, be as wary of overestimating as of under- stating the time Strada spent on, and the degree of attention he paid to such commissions. The fact that he could often concentrate on projects of his own—first the construction of his house, later his scholarly projects—and that he was able to work regularly and for extended periods for other patrons, shows that he was not continually employed in Imperial projects. In October 1562 Strada briefly related his personal affairs in a letter to Bernardin Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes and French ambassador to Ferdinand i, in terms suggesting little pressure from the part of his patrons: <…>as to myself and my family: we are all well, and I have become the complete philosopher, and always stay at home and occupy myself with having built my little house<…>.105 Yet the evidence is sufficient to warrant an attempt to sketch Strada’s activities for his Imperial patrons more fully. It is obvious to begin this sketch with the function in which he was first appointed and for which he was best paid, that is his function as an Imperial Architect. This will be the subject of the next chapters. 104 Cf. below, Ch. 10.4. 105 DOC. 1562-10-21: ‘di me et casa mia: tutti stiamo bene, et son del tutto fatto Philosopho, et sempre mi sto in casa et atendo a far batir la mia picciol casa’.