Page - 393 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

393The Munich Antiquarium house the Duke’s library, just as Fugger had informed Stopio when he sent him his copy of the siteplan. The wording of Stopio’s reply suggests that this was the first time he heard of the intention to house both antiques and library in the new building.21 But that decision must already have been taken in August when, as we have seen, Strada was in Munich and had discussed with the Duke and Fugger the implications of the acquisition of the Loredan statues for the planned housing of the antiques. 8.3 The Concept It was perhaps rather obvious to connect this problem with that of finding accommodation for the other huge acquisition the Duke had made in the late 1560s: the unequalled library of Hans Jakob Fugger, which the Duke obtained in exchange for the financial help he had given Fugger to arrange his affairs after his personal bankruptcy. Yet it was Strada who first hit upon the idea that combining the two in one building would solve both problems at one go. Cer- tainly Fugger appears to attribute its conception to him, when telling Stopio of the Duke’s plan to build a new ‘stanza’ for his antiquities, for which he in- tended to use ‘il disegno et parere del Strada’.22 There are several reasons why it is natural to accept Strada’s responsibil- ity for this concept: apart from Fugger himself, he probably was the only one who knew both collections extremely well. Strada had contributed not only to Fugger’s collection of antiquities, but also to his library, and not only by supply- ing the noted albums of numismatic drawings, but also by acquiring books and manuscripts for him during his learned peregrinations. Strada himself was not only an antiquarian but also a bookseller and publisher, and himself the owner of a quite sizable scholarly library: by this time it counted over three thousand volumes.23 So he was perfectly aware of the problems of housing and order- ing large quantities of books in an accessible manner, and I will argue below that he must have contributed substantially to the web of ideas informing both Fugger’s collection and the ample complex of collections brought together by Duke Albrecht at Munich: ideas which were summarized in Samuel Quicche- berg’s Inscriptiones vel tituli theatri amplissimi... which had been printed at 21 BHStA-LA 4852, fol. 183/174; cf. Weski/Frosien-Leinz 1987, p. Textband, 466, nr. 135 (quoted above, note 14). 22 In his letter of 25 August 1568 (Von Busch 1973, p. 123 and 343, n. 99; Weski/Frosien-Leinz 1987, Textband, p. 466, nr. 132), quoted above, note 7. 23 Discussed in greater detail below, Ch. 14.