Page - 594 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter ��594 ably bronze, as were the statuettes of Apollo, a male and a female Satyr and two horses. Two ‘Piramiden von Marmor’ were probably marble obelisks top- ping the cabinet.43 But Strada must have possessed antique sculptures besides these, if his house even included a workshop where antique statuary could be restored. An example of this is found in a letter of the Mantuan envoy about the presentation of an antique sculpture of a Satyr which the Duke had sent as a gift to Maximilian ii in 1572. Unfortunately it had broken in two during transport, and the envoy applied to Strada to have the parts reunited, which was done in too much of a hurry, because it broke again in the same spot while being carried to the Hofburg.44 12.4.2 Casts of Imperial Portrait Busts The only other concrete information we have is that Strada owned a collection of busts of Roman emperors and empresses. These, however, were not origi- nals: they were casts which Strada had commissioned after the best exemplars he had seen in various collections, such as those owned by Cesare Gonzaga, 43 Cf. Appendix C, ‘Pleasant paintings’. 44 Docs. 1572-05-28; 1572-06-12. Figures ��.��–��.�� Titian, Portrait of Jacopo Strada [Fig. 0.1], details showing the bronze statuettes of a Hercules and a draped female figure. Figure ��.�3 Tintoretto, Portrait of Ottavio Strada [Fig. 0.2], detail showing the fragmentary statuette.