Page - 821 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

821Student of Antiquity Figures 15.32–15.33 Giulio Romano, the Pons Aelius, detail of his fresco The Vision of the Cross, Sala di Costantino, Vatican Palace, compared with Pirro Ligorio’s reconstruction in his Anteiquae Urbis Imago. Figures 15.34–15.35 Giulio Romano, garden facade of the Palazzo del Te and the Pescheria or covered fish market, both in Mantua. the Cross in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican Palace [Fig. 15.32], which was based on the same coin-type and on the bridge as existent at the time.28 That Strada followed Giulio’s interpretation is borne out by a comparison with the rather different reconstruction in Pirro Ligorio Anteiquae Urbis Imago of 1561 [Fig. 15.33]. But Strada was faithful neither to the coin, nor to Giulio’s model, nor even to the still existing bridge: he reconstructed its substructure as though executed in bugnato, heavy rustica masonry. In this he appears here to have inspired himself on contemporary architec- ture, such as Giulio’s garden facade of the Palazzo del Te or his Pescheria in Mantua, rather than directly on classical models [Figs. 15.34–15.35]. This means that he presented the bridge not as it is actually shown in the reverse, but as he thought it originally looked like, or perhaps even as he thought it ought to have been depicted on the coin. A parallel to this high esteem for contemporary 28 In view of the close correspondence between the Renaissance imitation and the fresco, it cannot be excluded that the imitation may have been based on Giulio’s reconstruction, rather than the other way around.