Page - 719 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

©  dirk jacob jansen, ���9  |  doi:�0.��63/9789004359499_0�6 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc-nd License. Chapter 14 ‘Ex Musaeo et Impensis Jacobi Stradae, S.C.M. Antiquarius, Civis Romani’: Strada’s Frustrated Ambitions as a Publisher 14.1 Is There Life Beyond the Court? One of the principal purposes of this study is better to understand the nature of Strada’s function at court, as an indispensable condition to appreciate the significance of his presence for Imperial intellectual and artistic patronage and, more in general, for the cultural history in the Habsburg territories and Southern Germany. For that reason the greater part of the preceding chapters has been devoted to Strada’s coming to the Vienna court and his subsequent employment in Imperial service. Even within the context of his career as a whole, such ample attention is warranted by the length of Strada’s employ- ment, the importance of his patrons, and the value he himself attached to his status as an Imperial servant and courtier. Nevertheless neither Strada’s useful- ness for Ferdinand i and Maximilian ii and the character of the return they expected from his presence at court, nor Strada’s view of his chosen profession can be explained without reference to the activities he engaged in indepen- dently from his work at court. His occupations before he came to Vienna have been described in my earlier chapters. Before discussing the activities he un- dertook simultaneously but quite separately from his tasks at court and after his resignation, it is useful briefly to sketch his private circumstances, with a view of the role his family played in his professional life. 14.2 Strada’s Family Shortly after his first contacts with Ferdinand i Strada came to Vienna, appar- ently ready to settle at court, because he had brought his wife and household.1 By that time his family consisted of his wife, Ottilie Schenk von Rossberg, his sons Paolo (Nuremberg 1548) and Ottavio (Nuremberg 1550) and doubtless also at least the daughter on the occasion of whose wedding in 1569 Maximilian ii accorded Strada a gift of 50 Gulden. Apart from her name we know hardly 1 Doc 1558-06-11, cited in Ch. 4.2.2.