Page - 522 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 10522 of the Rožmberk palace on castle hill in Prague, it seems likely that he would have mentioned it on this occasion.10 So it may well be that he merely contrib- uted documentation on other ancient monuments besides Trajan’s column, and had purveyed other books, prints and drawings and other collectibles: that at least is suggested by the apparent provenance from the Rožmberk library of the Prague copy of Strada’s A.A.A. Numismatωn Antiquorum Διασκευέ.11 Since Vilém z Rožmberk had visited and stayed in Strada’s house at some unspecified date, he had had the opportunity to inspect the documentation in Strada’s collection and let himself be inspired by this.12 Possibly Strada’s technical expertise, relating to mills, pumps, fountains and other waterworks may have been of interest to Rožmberk, as the owner of an extensive complex of artificial fishponds, which provided a substantial part of his immense rev- enue; but we have no concrete evidence for that. Neither do we have concrete 10 Jaroslav Pánek suggests that Strada may well have contributed to the plans of the Rožmberk palace in Prague, but does not provide further sources [Pánek 1989, p.258]; on the palace, see Krčalová 1970. Strada’s name is not mentioned in Václav Březan’s history of the Rožmberk family: Kubiková 2005. 11 Prague, National Library, cod. vii A 1, a-l; inscriptions in the volumes documenting their provenance from the Jesuit College in Český Krumlov, combined with the initials ‘W R’ in each volume, strongly suggest that the book was commissioned or bought by Vilém z Rožmberk. In that case it is likely that Strada had also provided him with either a selec- tion of authentic original coins or one or more of his albums of numismatic drawings. 12 In his letter Strada refers to Rožmberk’s visit, when he had expressed the wish to buy the house whenever Strada would think of selling. Figure 10.7 Anonymous, Portrait of Vilém z Rožmberka: Český Krumlov, Castle. Figures 10.8–10.9 Title page and Jacopo Strada’s dedication to Vilém z Rožmberka of his edition of Sebastiano Serlio’s Settimo Libro, Frankfurt 1575.