Seite - 86 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

Chapter 286 untoward moment—a few weeks before the Battle of Mühlberg!—must have been stimulated by the extraordinary splendour of the Imperial camp. In con- nection with the war, Charles’ train was unusually extensive, and included many generals who were princes in their own right: doubtless Marignano felt it due to his standing not to be outdone. It was his good fortune that an introduc- tion by mutual acquaintances or a chance meeting brought him into contact with the one Italian gentleman in Germany who was perfectly able and willing to help him plan and realize some such tangible symbol of his status. Unfortu- nately, it is not known whether this work was ever completed; and if so, what exactly was Strada’s contribution to its conception and execution. 2.5.2 Was Strada Himself Active as a Professional Goldsmith? It has been indicated that Strada had received some training as a goldsmith, probably in his native Mantua. The principal source for this is a letter of June 1559 to Maximilian, the titular King of Bohemia on whose recommendation Strada had entered the service of his father, Emperor Ferdinand i, about a year earlier. He indignantly related to the King how the Imperial Historiographer Wolfgang Lazius, at the time his chief rival at the Imperial court, in a polemical publication had indicated him as a goldsmith, instead of mentioning him by name and giving him the title of Antiquary, which he felt was his due: Doctor Lazius, wanting to impute to me a lack of knowledge of Antiquity, avoids mentioning me by name and surname, describing me by the art of the goldsmith, which I have learned as a boy to enable me in time better to learn what I have, thanks be to God, learnt with great effort and expense, in the field of antique marbles and medals …. In this Lazius had in fact rendered him a service, rather than an injury, <…>showing in his writings to Your Majesty and to all the world how much I know and am capable of in my profession, in which I have not contented myself to understand the names and identify the portraits of the people of the past, but have also obtained by patient effort that I can- not only draw them on paper, but can also sculpt them in gold and other metals as well as in marble … so in case he considers ignoble [‘vituper- osa’] the knowledge and competence [‘saper et intender’] of the craft of the goldsmith (as he shows he does), it was not appropriate to the service on a design by Michelangelo, see Pope-Hennessy 1963, iii, pp. 100–101; on Pius iv’s patron- age in general, see Smith 1977; Cellauro 1995.