Page - 615 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

6�5The Musaeum: Its Contents 12.7 ‘Gemalte Lustigen Tiecher’: Contemporary Painting in Strada’s Musaeum The antiquities and the visual documentation, such as the drawings of the Palazzo del Te, to be admired in Strada’s house mostly appealed to the more learned among his visitors. Less sophisticated visitors of the Musaeum may have been more impressed by the display of contemporary works of art it of- fered, be it permanently as a fixed private collection, be it in continuous ex- change as the stock of a high-class art dealer. Some of the works presented had a particular significance for Strada and his family or were highly esteemed for other reasons. The former category in- cluded the two portraits of himself and his son Ottavio painted by Titian and Tintoretto [Figs. 0.1 and 0.2], the latter probably included the Dea Pomona Ti- tian had presented to him as personal gift [Fig. 12.25].89 These will have been more or less permanent fixtures, not for sale, whereas other works, though ac- quired both for their quality and particular appeal, would have been available to patrons if they made a serious offer. This is a situation which is not so dif- ferent from that of many art-dealers of today, where the distinction between private collecting and buying to sell is not always very clearly defined. Thus the set of copies in oils of Titian’s portraits of the first twelve Roman Emperors must have been intended to decorate a specific space in Strada’s house, per- haps the very studiolo where Strada practiced his researches into their history and (numismatic) iconography. Nevertheless, he did not hesitate to offer them to the Elector August of Saxony when this served his purpose. Probably most of the other paintings in Strada’s studio would be available to a patron mak- ing a serious offer. Stopio gives no indication about the ninety-one paintings Strada bought in Venice in 1567, except that they were all ‘modern’. Fortunately another document preserved in Munich allows a more detailed impression of the character of Strada’s collection of paintings. 12.7.1 ‘Pleasant Painted Canvases’ Offered to Strada’s Patrons: The Document In view of Strada’s documented patronage relationship with three of the best and best-known artists active in Venice at the time—the sculptor Alessandro 89 The Pomona was a gift is documented in Stopio’s correspondence, cf. above, Ch. 12.5.3. It has often been interpreted as a portrait of Titian’s daughter Lavinia. This may have been an additional reason for Strada to exchange it with the painting of ‘a Persian lady’ origi- nally intended for him, for his youngest daughter also was called Lavinia or Lavina. It is not certain which of the versions of this composition was the one given to Strada.