Page - 608 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2
Image of the Page - 608 -
Text of the Page - 608 -
Chapter
��608
This indicates that Titian did expect quite solid benefits from Strada’s exer-
tions on his behalf. Stopio asserted that Titian had been taken in by Strada’s
persuasive eloquence, implying that he had never derived any concrete advan-
tage in return for the favours he had done him.75 It is difficult to determine to
what extent Titian’s expectations were realized, but it is rather likely that Sto-
pio’s estimate is too negative: there is, for instance, no reason not to suppose
that Maximilian ii did acquire at least some of the favole he had been offered
around this time.76 Finally, several paintings by Titian are included in an un-
dated list of paintings Strada offered to the Bavarian court, which will be dis-
cussed in greater detail below. Some of these were described as ‘old’, and were
probably bought from collectors or dealers, but most of the others must have
been bought directly from the painter: the ‘four portraits made by the widely
renowned [painter] Titian’s own hand’ are the most likely candidates.77 It is af-
ter all unlikely that, in addition to Strada’s portrait, Titian would have donated
three major paintings without any immediate benefit; it is even quite possible
that Strada had actually bought the favole he recommended to Maximilian ii
unlikely: it stands to reason that Duke Albrecht would have received the more monumen-
tal of the three paintings, and the continued presence of the Venus and Cupid in the Wit-
telsbach collections since 1598 strongly suggest that this is in fact the painting Titian sent
to the Duke. It is not surprising that Stopio’s description confused the bowl of fruit carried
by the Pomona and the basket of fruit and flowers offered to Venus in the larger painting,
since it was over a year ago that he had seen the three paintings (if he had seen them at
all). The reason for the exchange may have been quite different from that given by Stopio:
perhaps Strada preferred a portrait of Titian’s daughter Lavinia because he himself had
a daughter of that name? As usual, Stopio’s representation of the facts would be strongly
biased against Strada: in his correspondence with Fugger he left nothing unsaid which
could harm his rival with their common patron. Fugger saw through this, and shortly
afterwards took Stopio sternly to task for this slander (BHStA-LA 4852, fols. 228 ff., Fugger
to Stopio, Vienna, 30 March 1569; cf. above, Ch. 12.3.1).
75 BHStA-LA 4852, fol. 230, Stopio to Fugger, 9 April 1569, responding to Fugger’s letter of
30 March cited above (note 18) ‘<…>a proposito del Strada, che Signor Titiano disse che
era un venerabile presuntuoso, et ignorante, più tosto che intelligente, ma che cacciava
tante carrotte con questo suo simulato procedere alli Alemanni quanto si può imaginare;
li rispose alhora quel amico che di ciò non si maravegliava, ma bene di questo, che esso Si-
gnor Titiano, tanto accorto, se l’haveva così lasciato cacciare, di farli un ritratto et donare
ancora una pittura in un quadro, che a qualunque suo amico non haveria fatto per 50
scudi<…>’.
76 This is almost certainly the case for the Diana and Callisto in the Kunsthistorisches Mu-
seum in Vienna (inv. nr. GG-71; Wethey 1969–1975, iii, pp. 142–143).
77 Appendix C: ‘4 retrati vom weitberuembten Tiziano aigner hand gemacht’ (only three are
specified); cf. below, Ch. 12.6.
back to the
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