Page - 258 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 5258 Chini 1985; Chini/Gramatica 1985/1988; Gorfer 1990, pp. 29–213; Castelnuovo 1995–1996; Dellantonio 2002; Gabrielli 2004; I am very grateful to Giovanni Dellantonio to have made these books available to me. 9 Cf. above, Ch. 3.3, and Figs. 3.14–3.17. 10 Venezia (Francesco Marcolini) 1539; splendid, abundantly annotated and illustrated edi- tion by Michelangelo Lupo, in Castelnuovo 1995–1996, i, pp. 66–231 and a commentary by Massimiliano Rossi in the same volume, pp. 232–245. Stanzas 245–259 describe de Sala del Camino nero (library), 251–254 the Emperor’s medals, ‘tratti dal natural veri e non finti’; stanzas 263–265 describe the ‘statue antiche’ painted on the vault of the Stua della Famea, the dining hall. 11 Ferdinand and Anna’s entry visit commemorated in stanzas 99–124, 205–214; the fire- works that concluded the festivities in stanzas 430–439. In the case of Ferdinand it was reciprocal, since Cles apparently had found some inspiration in the organisation of the reconstruction of the Vienna Hofburg and its defences. Cles was in contact with Bartholomäus Amantius, with Petrus Apianus the editor of the Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetustatis, the first printed collection of ancient epigraphy—we have met them before in Raymund Fugger’s house.9 That may be the reason why he had his library dec- orated with images imitating Roman Imperial coins, and his dining-hall with images of ancient sculpture, pointedly painted as antiquities in an unrestored state [Figs. 5.8–5.9]: a learned and sophisticated conceit that shows that he was well aware of contemporary antiquarian discourse in Rome. This is a point explicitly made in the grand description in four hundred and forty-five stanzas in ottava rima by Pietro Andrea Mattioli to which the building owns its name: Il Magno Palazzo del Cardinale di Trento: Quivi ‘l saggio pittor quel c’ha trovato D’antichi esempi ha voluto mostrare E’l bel lavoro imperfetto ha lasciato Perche l’antico ha voluto imitare. Here the learned painter has wished to show those antique examples he had found and left these beautiful works in imperfect state because he aimed to imitate the antique.10 Ferdinand knew this complex in detail: Mattioli’s poem was written on the occasion of and describes the festive visit of Ferdinand and Anna paid to Tren- to in September 1536, just when the complex was basically finished.11 Cles’ splendid example at Trento was contagious: one of his colleagues in Ferdinand’s council, Gabriel Salamanca-Ortenburg, the king’s Spanish trea- surer, built a splendid Renaissance castle at Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia from 1533 onwards [below, Ch. 6.5, Figs. 6.27–6.28]. But the most interesting