Page - 717 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

717Visual Documentation sive catalogus that he distinguished between the sketches, studies and modelli in Raphael ‘s, Perino’s and Giulio’s own hand, and the documentary drawings of their works he had commissioned from others, and Ottavio Strada’s corre- spondence cited above show that he counted the former among his greatest treasures. But though Strada recognized the quality of the autograph drawings, he did not lose himself in Neoplatonic speculations about the divine genius of the artists who had created them: to him authenticity of the drawings appears to have been of less moment than the pictorial or architectural invention documented in the design. This suggests that for him the practical use of a given drawing, which could function as model, or at least as a source of inspi- ration for the artist who studied it, was of greater value than its status as an independent work of art. His is a rather pragmatic attitude, which concerns itself with the results of the artistic creation, rather than with the spiritual life which is its moving power. A modello for a fresco in the Camera di Psiche that had been worked out in detail, under Giulio’s supervision, by one of his as- sistants, would therefore have been hardly less prized than Giulio’s autograph sketch; after all the invention, and therefore the credit, was Giulio’s in both cases.145 For that reason Strada had ordered his drawings according to icono- graphic or functional criteria, that is according to subject, type of drawing, and potential use. As we have seen above, the misunderstanding that arose after his death between Ottavio Strada and Grand Duke Ferdinando i of Tuscany and his artistic advisers, including Niccolò Gaddi, was probably caused by this fundamental difference in attitude. 13.10 Conclusion Strada’s large scale commissions of documentary drawings, in addition to the original materials he had acquired from other artists, had a threefold purpose. On the one hand they were intended to serve as a source of knowledge and learning for all subjects that could not be sufficiently documented in written text alone, along the lines set out in Quiccheberg’s treatise. On the other hand they were intended to serve as sources of inspiration for his patrons, their advi- sors and the artists and artisans they employed in their projects. Finally they provided the raw material for an ambitious publishing programme, which may have been partly motivated by commercial considerations, but which certainly 145 Perhaps Strada was influenced by Giulio’s own practice; in contrast to Raphael, Giulio preferred to have his ideas executed by masters of the second or even third rank, rather than tolerate assistants whose quality might expose him to serious competition.