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In addition to this purchase there are other concrete indications that Strada
was at least occasionally involved in the trade in paintings. According to Stopio
in May 1567, soon after his arrival in Venice, Strada acquired a quantity of fifty-
three paintings, which—Stopio claimed—had earlier been offered to himself
for thirty ducats less than Strada had paid for them. Later in the year Strada
bought on two separate occasions, but perhaps from the same source, a total
of thirty-eight paintings ‘di quelli quadri tutti moderni’, though having earlier
rejected two similar ones from this same collection that Stopio had shown him
as a teaser. The provenance of these paintings remains mysterious: because
of the large quantity it is unlikely that Strada bought them directly from the
artists involved. They may have been purchased from a Venetian collector, but
it is more probable that they were supplied by a professional dealer: possibly
again by Guidotto Garotto in Mantua, but more likely by someone in Venice.
That Strada bought these paintings after having disparaged them to Stopio
may have been be due to his wish to oust competition and acquire them on the
cheap, as Stopio had it, but it may just as well have been because their general
quality was higher than the two that Stopio had first shown him.59
It is not clear which patron Strada had in mind when making this pur-
chase, for which he held no commission from Munich. There is no evidence
either that they were intended for the Emperor, though that certainly cannot
be excluded. It seems rather unlikely that Strada would have bought such a
large quantity of paintings—ninety-one items!—all at once merely for his
own collection. Yet the possibility cannot be excluded, as Strada himself
fourteen years later ranked his paintings with his antiquities, speaking of his
‘studio delle antiquità et pitture excellentissime’.60 But it is most likely that
he bought them partly on speculation, hoping to sell them off one by one to
various patrons.
59 Stopio to Fugger, 9 May 1567 (BHStA-LA 4852, fol. 15): ‘Io non so se’l compra per Sua Ec-
cellenza, ma lui ha comprato fin a 53 de quelli quadri tutti moderni, li quali mi sono stati
prima offerti per più di 30 scudi mancho di quelli lui le ha hauti<…>’; id., 10 October 1567
(ibid, fol. 77): ‘Il Strada come scrissi ha pure comprato anc(or)a lui in 2 volte 38 de q(ue)lli
quadri moderni; non so se li haveria mandato a S. Ecc.<…>’; id., 12 October 1567 (ibid., fol.
74): ‘<…>non so anche se havera mandato costà li 38 quadri ch’l comprò modernissimi, li
quali dispregiò nel principio quando io le ne mostrai dua, et essendoli poi dimandato da
uno al quale lui disse che ne haveva veduta in man mia et dispregiati, perche lui le havera
poi comprato, li rispose che le dispregio a me, perche vedendo ch’io dissi che s’offerrano a
bon merchato, le voleva comprare lui<…>’;. BHStA-LA 4852, fols. 77, 103–107.
60 Strada to Jacopo Dani, Vienna, 2 November 1581 (Doc 1581-11-02).
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book Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2"
Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court
The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2
- Title
- Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court
- Subtitle
- The Antique as Innovation
- Volume
- 2
- Author
- Dirk Jacob Jansen
- Publisher
- Brill
- Location
- Leiden
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-90-04-35949-9
- Size
- 15.8 x 24.1 cm
- Pages
- 542
- Categories
- Biographien
- Kunst und Kultur
Table of contents
- 11 The Musaeum: Strada’s Circle 547
- 11.1 Strada’s House 547
- 11.2 High-ranking Visitors: Strada’s Guest Book and Ottavio’s Stammbuch 548
- 11.3 ‘Urbanissime Strada’: Accessibility of and Hospitality in the Musaeum 554
- 11.4 Intellectual Associates 556
- 11.5 Strada’s Confessional Position 566
- 11.6 Contacts with Members of the Dynasty 570
- 12 The Musaeum: its Contents 576
- 12.1 Introduction 576
- 12.2 Strada’s own Descriptions of his Musaeum 577
- 12.3 Strada’s Acquisitions for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria 580
- 12.4 Strada’s own Cabinet of Antiquities 592
- 12.5 Acquisitions of Other Materials in Venice 599
- 12.6 Commissions in Mantua 610
- 12.7 ‘Gemalte Lustigen Tiecher’: Contemporary Painting in Strada’s Musaeum 615
- 12.8 Conclusion 628
- 13 Books, Prints and Drawings: The Musaeum as a centre of visualdocumentation 629
- 13.1 Introduction 629
- 13.2 Strada’s Acquisition of Drawings 630
- 13.3 ‘Owls to Athens’: Some Documents Relating to Strada’s GraphicCollection 634
- 13.4 The Contents of Strada’s Collection of Prints and Drawings 641
- 13.5 Later Fate of Strada’s Prints and Drawings 647
- 13.6 Drawings Preserved in a Context Linking Them withStrada 649
- 13.7 Strada’s Commissions of Visual Documentation: Antiquity 673
- 13.8 Strada’s Commissions of Visual Documentation: Contemporary Architecture and Decoration 692
- 13.9 Images as a Source of Knowledge 711
- 13.10 Conclusion 717
- 14 ‘Ex Musaeo et Impensis Jacobi Stradae, S.C.M. Antiquarius, CivisRomani’: Strada’s Frustrated Ambitions as a Publisher 719
- 14.1 Is There Life beyond the Court? 719
- 14.2 Strada’s Family 719
- 14.3 Ottavio Strada’s Role 725
- 14.4 The Publishing Project: Strada Ambitions as a Publisher 728
- 14.5 The Musaeum as an Editorial Office? 739
- 14.6 Financing the Programme 752
- 14.7 The Index Sive Catalogus 760
- 14.8 Strada’s Approach of Christophe Plantin 775
- 14.9 The Rupture with Ottavio 781
- 14.10 Strada’s Testamentary Disposition 783
- 14.11 Conclusion: The Aftermath 786
- 15 Le Cose dell’antichità : Strada as a Student of Antiquity 799
- 16 Strada & Co.: By Appointment to His Majesty the Emperor 830
- 16.1 Strada as an Imperial Antiquary and Architect 830
- 16.2 Strada’s Role as an Agent 836
- 16.3 Strada as an Independent Agent 840
- 16.4 ‘Ex Musaeo Iacobi de Strada’: Study, Studio, Workshop, Office, Showroom 843
- 16.5 Strada’s Influence: An Agent of Change 849
- 16.6 Conclusion: Strada’s Personality 863
- 16.7 Epilogue: Back to the Portrait 868
- Appendices 877
- Chronological List of Sources 915
- Bibliography 932
- List of Illustrations 986
- Index 1038