Page - 722 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 14722 By the time they were adolescents their father took great pains to obtain some secure basic income for them, in the form of an ecclesiastical ben- efice or a secular sinecure. Thanks to Maximilian’s explicit recommendation to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga, the eldest, Paolo, was elected a canon of Man- tua Cathedral.9 When their education was complete both Paolo and Ottavio served as gentlemen of the chamber to Archduke Ernest and to King Rudolf respectively.10 But both sons were also trained by their father himself, who 9 The success of Strada’s attempt to obtain a benefice in Mantua cathedral for his son Paolo was doubtless due to Maximilian ii’s strong support (Docs. 1565-05-12, 1565-05-15; 1565-10-15; 1565-10-23; 1567-03-19; 1567-03-24; 1567-03-25; 1567-06-11; 1568-12-05; 1568-12-28). About the same time Strada attempted to obtain a benefice in Antwerp for one of his sons from Philip ii, probably in return for the numismatic manuscript he had presented to the king; but when this turned out to be impossible he opted for a ‘pensione’ in Milan, and showing a quite pragmatic attitude: ‘Io non domando più cosa di chiesa, ma una pensione; io non des- sidero già cosa grande, perchè domandandola mi fosse negata, ne anche tanto basso che non meritasse la spesa di averla domandata’. (Strada to Dietrichstein, Doc. 1566-03-01). 10 ‘Et alla Signoria Vostra io con li mei figliuoli salutiamo Vostra Signoria per sempre. Ottavio sta con Sua Maestà Cesarea et Pauolo con l’Arciducha Hernest, si che tutti doi sono Figure 14.1 Ottavio Strada, Emblems of Emperor Maximilian ii and Empress Maria, drawings in pen and coloured inks in his ms. Simbola Romanorum imperatorum, Cambridge (Mass.), Houghton Library. Figure 14.2 Ottavio Strada, Design for a treadmill for grinding corn, drawing in pen and ink in his ms. Variae ac faciles molendina construendi inventiones; Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.