Page - 552 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 11552 in Ottavio’s letter to his father from Nuremberg in December 1574, in which he reassures him that he will go and pay his respect to Vilém z Rožmberk, as instructed. Then he asks his father to convey his greetings to ‘<…>‘l Messer Martin, et ‘l Signor Marchese del Vinal’, that is Maximilian’s Lord Chamber- lain Martín de Guzmán, and Alfonso del Carretto, Marquis of Finale in Liguria, at court involved in a process to regain possession of this fief. The passages provide concrete evidence of the care with which the Strada’s cultivated their patronage network and their business relations.9 Strada would of course meet these colleague-courtiers when he occasion- ally attended the Emperor in person, ‘in camera’ as he calls it himself; but he also had to work together with at least some of them when fulfilling his master’s commissions. Moreover he would meet them socially, for instance as neighbours: many of the higher ranking courtiers had houses built along the Herrengasse, the Minoritenplatz and the Schenkengasse. Situated between 9 Doc. 1574-12-05: Ottavio was overseeing the printing of several books, including Serlio’s Set- timo Libro, which was to be dedicated to Rožmberk: ‘Quando vederò ‘l Rosenberg lo visitarò, segondo mi ordinasti. <…>Non altro, solum il Francesco Nieri Vi saluti, et sarebe bene che li scrivesti una leterina di raccomandatione. Salutate ‘l Messer Martin, et ‘l Signor Marchese del Vinal [= Finale], et io megli raccomando, et manteneteVi sano.’ On the Finale question, see Edelmayer 1988. Figure 11.10 Anonymous, Sir Philip Sidney, 1576; London, National Portrait Gallery, London. Figure 11.11 Martino Rota, portrait of Ottavio Strada, 1574, engraving.