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by the intervention of his sister and brother-in-law; Strada even felt that, had
Ottavio had had a dagger at hand, he would have been attacked in person. For
these reasons Strada even suspected his son of a plot to have him assassinated
together with his mistress and his elder son Paolo.
Obviously something had gone very, very wrong between father and son. On
the one hand Ottavio may have reacted unkindly to the low-born servant who
replaced his late mother in his father’s affections.124 On his part the elder Strada
may not have easily brooked the fact that Ottavio appeared to have taken over
his position with Rudolf ii, who largely ignored the elder Strada. What at most
can be said is that Strada very likely exaggerated Ottavio’s crimes, and that his
own authoritarian and uncompromising behaviour may have contributed to
his son’s rebellion. Yet there can be no doubt that Ottavio’s behaviour towards
his father, if not criminal, at least was reprehensible and possibly inexcusable.
Some of Ottavio’s transgressions were in fact criminal in nature, such as
when, on two occasions, he forged his father’s signature in order to obtain
money from his business associates. Even worse, when he pocketed the pro-
ceeds of the two books he had had printed in Frankfurt at his father’s expense,
he not only made out a false document stating that his father had made over
these proceeds to him, but also spread the report that his father had died,
which caused Strada endless trouble with the local magistrate to have himself
acknowledged when arriving in Frankfurt in person. Or such as when Ottavio
stole directly from his father’s Musaeum: not only hundred ducats’ worth of
high quality Venetian paper, which he sold at his own profit to a local book-
binder, but also a beautiful clock, the masterpiece of the famous engineer
Hans Gasteiger which had been a gift from Duke Albrecht v of Bavaria, and
even part of Strada’s famous collection of Roman Imperial coins and some of
his best drawings, which Ottavio likewise sold for his own benefit.125
Some of Ottavio’s ‘crimes’ were directly related to his acting as his father’s
agent, and may have been his business decisions with which his father did not
agree—perhaps even only in hindsight. When he claims that Ottavio had col-
lected the subventions accorded by Elector August of Saxony and had kept
these for himself, we cannot be certain that Ottavio did not invest them at
least in part in the projects he was managing for his father.126 Moreover, when
Strada reproached him to have spent money without his father’s knowledge
124 Ibidem, points 3 and 5: Ottavio’s stole thirteen golden rings with precious stones from his
mother’s chest after her death; cut off the pearls and the golden buttons and other orna-
ments from his mother’s clothes and hats and took some ready money. He had opened the
chest by means of a key he had previously stolen from his father’s safety box, of which he
had obtained a forged key.
125 Ibidem, points 2 and 9, point 4, points 6, 7 and 8.
126 Ibidem, point 1.
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book Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2"
Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court
The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2
- Title
- Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court
- Subtitle
- The Antique as Innovation
- Volume
- 2
- Author
- Dirk Jacob Jansen
- Publisher
- Brill
- Location
- Leiden
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-90-04-35949-9
- Size
- 15.8 x 24.1 cm
- Pages
- 542
- Categories
- Biographien
- Kunst und Kultur
Table of contents
- 11 The Musaeum: Strada’s Circle 547
- 11.1 Strada’s House 547
- 11.2 High-ranking Visitors: Strada’s Guest Book and Ottavio’s Stammbuch 548
- 11.3 ‘Urbanissime Strada’: Accessibility of and Hospitality in the Musaeum 554
- 11.4 Intellectual Associates 556
- 11.5 Strada’s Confessional Position 566
- 11.6 Contacts with Members of the Dynasty 570
- 12 The Musaeum: its Contents 576
- 12.1 Introduction 576
- 12.2 Strada’s own Descriptions of his Musaeum 577
- 12.3 Strada’s Acquisitions for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria 580
- 12.4 Strada’s own Cabinet of Antiquities 592
- 12.5 Acquisitions of Other Materials in Venice 599
- 12.6 Commissions in Mantua 610
- 12.7 ‘Gemalte Lustigen Tiecher’: Contemporary Painting in Strada’s Musaeum 615
- 12.8 Conclusion 628
- 13 Books, Prints and Drawings: The Musaeum as a centre of visualdocumentation 629
- 13.1 Introduction 629
- 13.2 Strada’s Acquisition of Drawings 630
- 13.3 ‘Owls to Athens’: Some Documents Relating to Strada’s GraphicCollection 634
- 13.4 The Contents of Strada’s Collection of Prints and Drawings 641
- 13.5 Later Fate of Strada’s Prints and Drawings 647
- 13.6 Drawings Preserved in a Context Linking Them withStrada 649
- 13.7 Strada’s Commissions of Visual Documentation: Antiquity 673
- 13.8 Strada’s Commissions of Visual Documentation: Contemporary Architecture and Decoration 692
- 13.9 Images as a Source of Knowledge 711
- 13.10 Conclusion 717
- 14 ‘Ex Musaeo et Impensis Jacobi Stradae, S.C.M. Antiquarius, CivisRomani’: Strada’s Frustrated Ambitions as a Publisher 719
- 14.1 Is There Life beyond the Court? 719
- 14.2 Strada’s Family 719
- 14.3 Ottavio Strada’s Role 725
- 14.4 The Publishing Project: Strada Ambitions as a Publisher 728
- 14.5 The Musaeum as an Editorial Office? 739
- 14.6 Financing the Programme 752
- 14.7 The Index Sive Catalogus 760
- 14.8 Strada’s Approach of Christophe Plantin 775
- 14.9 The Rupture with Ottavio 781
- 14.10 Strada’s Testamentary Disposition 783
- 14.11 Conclusion: The Aftermath 786
- 15 Le Cose dell’antichità : Strada as a Student of Antiquity 799
- 16 Strada & Co.: By Appointment to His Majesty the Emperor 830
- 16.1 Strada as an Imperial Antiquary and Architect 830
- 16.2 Strada’s Role as an Agent 836
- 16.3 Strada as an Independent Agent 840
- 16.4 ‘Ex Musaeo Iacobi de Strada’: Study, Studio, Workshop, Office, Showroom 843
- 16.5 Strada’s Influence: An Agent of Change 849
- 16.6 Conclusion: Strada’s Personality 863
- 16.7 Epilogue: Back to the Portrait 868
- Appendices 877
- Chronological List of Sources 915
- Bibliography 932
- List of Illustrations 986
- Index 1038