Page - 716 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 13716 The same holds also for the libri di disegni and most of the single drawings from Strada’s studio that document contemporary works of art: in these copies Strada never attempted to imitate exactly the ‘handwriting’ of the individual artist as observed in the model: the clear outline of these copies served in the first place to document a given figurative or ornamental ‘invention’. This holds both for the hundreds of drawings after designs for goldsmith work and festival trappings based on models by Giulio Romano, Francesco Salviati and others and for the drawings after classical sculpture and contemporary figurative decoration. This approach provides a clue to Strada’s attitude as a collector of drawings: in analogy to the albums of such copies compiled for his patrons, his own collection of autograph drawings functioned as an overflowing repertory of motifs and inventions, inventions which could not only serve in general as a source of inspiration for the many artists present at the Imperial court and for their patrons, but could also be adapted to practical use when the need arose. 13.9.3 Strada’s Attitude to his Drawings Strada’s interest in practical use partly explains why the concept of originality or Eigenhändigkeit was of less importance to Strada than to Giorgio Vasari or Niccolò Gaddi. These Florentine art-theorists and connoisseurs had developed an approach which attempted to understand a given work of art and the devel- opment of an individual artist in terms of a more generally formulated history of art, and this approach manifested itself in the organization of their graphic collections. Vasari had selected the drawings for his celebrated Libro de’ dis- egni, later in Gaddi’s possession, in order to create some visual complement to his Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, and he only included outstanding and characteristic examples of the best artists from the several Italian schools since Cimabue. He considered the autograph drawing as the key to a given artistic personality, and ‘modern’ art-historical criteria such as authenticity and spontaneity are of importance. Consequently Vasari ordered his drawings according to artist, and the artists were grouped in local or re- gional schools.144 Strada’s collection of drawings appears to have had a different purpose. His acquisitions concentrated on the work of Raphael and his most renowned pu- pils: that is on the school that was considered at the time—and for the next three centuries—as the ultimate model of perfection and elegance. Strada purchased Perino’s and Giulio’s collections en bloc, and apart from their au- tograph drawings these inevitably included many copies or studies drawn by their assistants and pupils. It is clear from Strada’s descriptions in the Index 144 On Vasari’s Libro, see Ragghianti Collobi 1974.