Page - 556 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 11556 That this attitude was not merely the polish acquired after twenty years of court-life is evident from a letter to Strada by the learned prelate Antun Vrančić (Antonius Verantius), Bishop of Eger and Imperial Legate to the Coun- cil of Trent, in December 1558, when Strada had only recently arrived at court. This long and elegant epistle deals with the attempt of a common acquain- tance, Girolamo Donzellini, to come to terms with the Inquisition, in order to be able to return safely to Venice, which provided Vrančić with the occasion for a philosophical disquisition on the love of one’s homeland and the sufferings of the exile. He peppers this letter not only with classical allusions, but also with flattering epithets, addressing his correspondent as ‘amantissime Strada’, ‘suavissime Strada’, ‘urbanissime Strada’ and ‘humanissime Strada’.16 If such a prominent member of the ecclesiastical and political establishment of the Habsburg dominions and of the Republic of Letters so generously accepted Strada as an equal, there can be little doubt that he was taken seriously also by other members of these groups. Some of them would at least have been curious to see what Strada’s Musaeum, of which he was so proud, had to offer. 11.4 Intellectual Associates Informal neighbourly visits of course are rarely documented, but occasionally hints of visits are found in Strada’s correspondence. Thus Jacopo Dani had first got to know Strada in 1558 when he arrived in Vienna—more or less at the same time as Strada himself—as secretary of the Tuscan ambassador, remain- ing until 1562. He returned in 1564 to work out the agreements for the wedding of Archduchess Johanna with Francesco de’ Medici. It is not impossible that Strada was involved in the preparations for this wedding: he may have pro- vided the models for the depictions of favourite Habsburg residences included in the still existing festive decoration of the cortile of the Palazzo Vecchio, and he may have contributed information on Imperial and Habsburg iconography. 16 Doc 1558-12-04. Strada’s letter to which Vrančić replies is lost: it probably involved a re- quest for intercession on behalf of Donzellini, perhaps with Ferdinand i, whose inter- vention with the Serenissima ultimately allowed Donzellini to return home (cf. Jacobson Schutte 1992). It is not surprising that Strada took to Vrančić, who supported him in the Lazius affair; Strada heartily recommended him to Hans Jakob Fugger: ‘Questa settimana di qui si parte il Reverendissimo Veschovo de Agria per venir costì; certo mi si parte il più caro et il più famigliare signore che io habbia, levandone li miei signori et padroni. La Signoria Vostra conossera un signore adornato di tutte le virtù che puol haver un altro signore; egli me a comesso ch’io faccia una raccomandatione alla Signoria Vostra da sua parte, et grandemente dessidera conosserLa per il gran nome Suo, del quale non solum da me gli è stato predicato, ma anchora da tutti quelli che Vostra Signoria hanno conosciuta.’ (Doc. 1559-06-09). On Vrančić, see Stoy 1981.