Page - 468 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 9468 dynastic policy and the forceful personality of Charles v.57 Jacopo Strada’s de- cision to seek patronage at the Imperial court, rather than in Spain, in France or with one of the lesser but factually more powerful princes of the Empire on either side of the Alps, may have had something to do with the mystique of the Emperor as universal monarch: certainly Strada was very well aware of the status he derived from it, if he pointedly referred to himself as ‘servidor del primo signore del mondo’.58 Maximilian himself was naturally interested in the history of the Emperors. Such interest was in any case a commonplace of intellectual life of the Renais- sance, witness the hundreds of series of imperial portraits decorating palaces and public buildings all over Europe and the many publications, often illustrat- ed, dedicated to the lives of the Emperors—including Strada’s own Epitome thesauri antiquitatum. The Imperial court fully partook of this tradition, as has been well sketched in a paper by Friedrich Polleross.59 This helps explain the great importance that Ferdinand i and his elder son accorded to the imperial coin collection and its catalogue. Strada’s letter to Maximilian of June 1559 in- cludes a detailed interpretation of a coin of Mark Antony which presupposes a high level of interest and expertise in its recipient.60 This interest remained with Maximilian to the end of his career: in November 1572 he sent the painter Giovanni de Monte to Mantua to have copies made of Titian’s famous portraits of the first twelve Emperors in the Gabinetto de’ Cesari in the Palazzo Ducale and at some date he also acquired an exquisite series of modern gesso busts of the twelve Emperors from Strada’s own collection.61 More in general the 57 Kaufmann 1978(a), p. 14: ‘It is at the imperial court that imperial themes were obviously crucial’. 58 Doc. 1568-00-00, undated draft of a letter by Strada to an unknown correspondent. 59 Haskell 1993; Cunnally 1999; Polleross 2006: ‘Romanitas in der habsburgische Repräsenta- tion von Karl V. bis Maximilian ii’; I am obliged to Dr Polleross for an offprint of his paper and an interesting discussion of the theme. 60 Doc. 1559-06-00; published in Jansen 1993a, pp. 233–235. 61 Discussed in detail by Jürgen Zimmer, who adds an excursus on the career of the court painter Giovanni de Monte (who should not be confused with the sculptor Hans Mont): Zimmer 2010; Maximilian ii to Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Vienna 26 Novem- ber 1572, ASMn, Archivio Gonzaga, busta 431, filza vii, f. 210–211; published in JdKS xvi, 1895, Regest n. 14.000 and in Venturini 2002, nr. 106, pp. 223–224 (and cf. ibidem, nr. 114–115, pp. 226–227); on Strada’s commission, for the Duke of Bavaria, of Giulio Romano’s scenes from the lives of the first twelve Emperors, painted to go under Titian’s famous portraits, see below, Ch. 12.5. Strada’s gesso heads are mentioned in the account of a payment made to him; he had acquired them in Venice: they are mentioned in the Stopio-Fugger corre- spondence and a letter from Strada to Hans Jakob Fugger, see below, Ch. 12.4.2.