Page - 868 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 16868 considerations. Yet there can be no doubt either that they were motivated at least as much by Strada’s sincere enthusiasm for his subject of study, and his conviction that it could be of use to his patrons, and to society in general. A conviction which caused him to invest far more in his projects than was com- mercially justified, and—in the last decade of his life—to be prepared to sink most of his and his family’s patrimony into their realization. 16.7 Epilogue: Back to the Portrait It is this enthusiasm that is shown in Titian’s portrait [Figs. 16.5–16.6]. For my part, biased as I am by my study of Strada’s career, I do not see it as the ‘partic- ularly unattractive sort of eagerness’ that Pope-Hennessy detected in Titian’s masterpiece. In fact, his case for the prosecution is sufficiently damning that it demands a plea for the defence, which I will present point-by-point. Pope-Hennessy contrasts the splendour of the rendering of Strada’s fur mantle and satin sleeves with the sitter’s features: ‘they are petty, and are stamped with guile and a particularly unattractive sort of eagerness’. Members of the jury, please look at the picture and the detail reproduced and ask your- self whether you really would have interpreted the sitter’s face in that way if you had not been told to do so by the learned counsel for the prosecution? The Figures 16.5–16.6 Titian, Portrait of Jacopo Strada and a detail of the face.