Page - 847 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

847Agent of Change: Imperial Antiquary and Architect 16.4.4 Intellectual Goods: ‘Libri di disegni’, Manuscripts, Books and Prints Even if some of the books of designs kept in Strada’s studio were meant as visual catalogues of the goods he could purvey, similar books of drawings themselves were provided to his patrons. Strada mentions the production of such libri di disegni as one of the principal activities he engaged in for Maximilian ii. Sev- eral of them are found in the inventories of the Kunstkammer in Munich and that of Rudolf ii. The best known of such albums actually produced in Strada’s workshop and sold to his patrons are the numismatic albums provided to Hans Jakob Fugger and Duke Albrecht v of Bavaria—now mostly in the Forschun- gsbibliothek in Gotha—and to the Emperors Ferdinand i and Maximilian ii, preserved in Vienna. Other examples are the set of drawings of the frieze of the Column of Trajan he provided to Vilém z Rožmberka, the albums containing a comprehensive series of beautifully illuminated series of coats of arms of princes, cities and noble families of the various Italian states made for Hans Jakob Fugger, the manuscript of technical inventions now in a private collec- tion, and the various volumes containing images of designs for goldsmith work in an antique style just mentioned. The inventories of the Kunstkammer of the Duke of Bavaria, the Archduke Ferdinand ii of Tirol at Ambras, and later that of Rudolf ii in Prague, all list such volumes, either by Jacopo or by his second son Ottavio, who continued this practice after his father’s death on an even larger scale.23 Apart from such luxury objects produced in Strada’s own workshop, he also purveyed manuscripts from other sources, both ancient and contemporary, such as the Greek texts found by his son Paolo in Constantinople, which Strada offered to Duke Guglielmo of Mantua, and which he could have provided with Latin supplements (either summaries or translations?).24 Strada’s own activity as a publisher implies that, in addition to manuscripts, he also could offer a choice of printed books, at the very least those he obtained from other book- sellers in exchange for his own books or—in the case of the Basle printer Pietro present them in person: ‘Circa li camei et gioie, el stara nella volontà delli pr[incip]i ad mandarli hora, o differirlo a tanto che voi possiate esser presente, il quale si rimette nella vostra commodità’. ‘Camei’ might refer to antique as well as modern carved stones, but ‘gioie’ seems to refer to modern jewels. 23 On Ottavio’s manuscripts, see Van den Boom 1988; Van den Boom 1996. 24 Doc. 1571-11-20, Strada to Guglielmo, Duke of Mantua, Vienna, 20 November 1571: ‘[Paolo Strada] me à anche mandato tutti gl’inventarii del[li] libri graeci che sonno in tutte quelle librarie graeche di Constantinopoli; delli quali creddo se ne averia bonissima conditione quando si volessero comprare, e quando fossero in queste bande saria un thesoro<…> A presso a questi libri graeci io la potria far servire del suplimento de Latini, et con bonis- simo mercato; a tale faria una sontuosissima libraria con non molta spesa.’