Page - 333 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

333Imperial Architect: Background been asked to provide these if he had not had at least some previous experi- ence in the field. Certainly Hans Jakob Fugger, who was responsible for the co- ordination of the Antiquarium project, at this same time complimented Strada on the success he had had with his design for Emperor Maximilian ii’.s Lust- schloß Neugebäude. It is surely significant that he added that he had not been surprised: ‘non dubito punto di fatti Vostri, havendoVi conosciuto tanti anni’, ‘having known you for so many years’; and he added that the Emperor was lucky to have found someone who could well design the planned building.143 5.6.2 Theoretical Knowledge and the Musaeum Moreover, even had he been poor in practical experience of architecture, Strada was well versed in the theory of contemporary architectural design, as we have seen. After growing up in Mantua while Giulio realized some of the Gonzaga’s grandest splendours, including the Palazzo del Te, in the 1530s and later in the 1550s he spent some time in Rome, where he not only could admire the commissions realized for the Farnese Pope, Paul iii, and his relatives, but also could participate in the learned antiquarian researches done under the aegis of Cardinal Marcello Cervini, by, for instance, architects such as Vignola, Pirro Ligorio and Philibert de l’Orme.144 Certainly he developed a passionate interest in architecture, which expressed itself in projects to measure exem- plary modern buildings as well as ancient remnants, or at least to acquire the results of such projects undertaken by others. It is therefore not surprising that the large collection of graphic material he brought together included a great quantity of architectural drawings. Perhaps the most important component of this was Sebastiano Serlio’s collection of manuscripts and drawings, which he could acquire in Lyon, shortly before the death of this influential architectural theorist. Serlio’s collection included manuscript versions of the unpublished books of his architectural treatise, which he had reedited at Strada’s express commission. Strada planned to publish all of these, though he would succeed in printing only the Settimo Libro, which was issued in Frankfurt in 1575. The preparing of such material for the press again presupposes some considerable architectural know-how.145 143 Doc. 1568-11-13: ‘I have never doubted what you could do, having known you for so many years’. The project for the Neugebäude is discussed below, Ch. 9. 144 Abovr, Vh. 3.7. The informal ‘accademia di nobilissimi gentiluomini e signori che at- tendevano alla lezione di Vitruvio’ (Vasari), is discussed in Daly Davis 1989 and Daly Davis 1994, esp. pp.11–18; Kulawik 2002, pp. 30–31 and 119–127. 145 In his preface Strada that it won’t be difficult for him to prepare Serlio’s as yet unpublished manuscripts for the press, ‘per la pratica che ho nelle cose sue, et nell’ordine ch’egli tiene’; a formulation which suggests that Strada himself intended to finish those elements that Serlio had not been able to complete (Serlio 1575). On Strada’s acquisition of Serlio’s mate- rial, and his subsequent edition of the Seventh Book, see Jansen 1989.