Page - 654 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 13654 z Přestavlk a Chlumčan, Archbishop of Prague since 1815 (1749–1830).45 The provenance of this album from Mantua is borne out by Federigo Gonzaga’s impresa impressed on its binding, by some entries (such as a variant reading of the epitaphs of Baldassare Castiglione and his wife, and that of the Mantuan nobleman Giovanni Cattaneo († 1541), as well as by the Mantuan origins of many of the drawings later added to the album. Though its provenance from Strada’s Musaeum cannot be established be- yond all doubt, it is a virtual certainty not only because of its Mantuan ante- cedents, but also in view of the copy of a design for a vase by Giulio Romano pasted onto the title page, which is similar to one found in the codex from Strahov, and which is accompanied by a title referring the volume to Sebas- tiano Serlio: ‘di Sebastiano Serlio di Architectura liber manupictus et scriptus’. Such an unusual combination would hardly have been found anywhere else but in Strada’s Musaeum, and the title was probably added by someone who was well aware of the various components of Strada’s collection, but was not 45 Prague, National Museum, Library, ms. xvii A 6; Album, 44 x 29 cm, containing 97 sheets, a number of later additions mostly pasted unto blank pages; sixteenth-century Italian binding bearing the imprese [Fides and Olympos] of Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua; interior front cover carries a ms. title: ‘di Sebastiano Serlio di Architectura liber manupic- tus et scriptus’. The album is integrally published in Juřen 1986, which is summarized in the following description; a brief description in Giulio Romano 1989, p.332 and Figs. on pp. 47, 320. Figure 13.25 Strahov codex, fol. 28/37: anonymous design for a ewer, after Giulio Romano,with autograph corrections. Figure 13.26 Codex Chlumczansky, inside of front board: copy of design for a ewer by Giulio Romano. Figure 13.27 Strahov codex, fol. 28/37: copy of a design for a double-handled vase, after Giulio Romano. Figure 13.28 Codex Chlumczansky, fol. 4v., copy of a design for a double-handled vase, after Giulio Romano.