Seite - 88 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

Chapter 288 that he was competent in the craft, and his obtaining the commission from the Marquis of Marignano suggests at first sight that he actually exercised it. That Strada chose to settle in Nuremberg is of importance in itself, because the town was famous for the high quality of the gold- and silverware that was produced in its shops. In the Zistelgasse Strada was the next-door neighbour of Wenzel Jamnitzer: his collaboration with this best known of Nuremberg gold- smiths is the subject of the next paragraph. On the other hand, there are arguments that support Strada’s contention that he was no professional goldsmith. In the Nuremberg Council minutes he is indicated, as we have seen, as ‘Maler’ (painter) or ‘Künstler’ or ‘Künstner’ (art- ist), never as a goldsmith. In contrast to the more or less independent guilds in other Imperial towns, the Nuremberg goldsmith’s craft was—like all cor- porations—administered and strictly supervised by the Council itself.44 The decision of the Council strongly suggests that Strada, though he had already been settled in Nuremberg for some time, had never become a member of the local goldsmith’s craft, since in that case he would hardly have needed special permission to accept the Marquis of Marignano’s commission. He certainly is not mentioned in the list of master-goldsmiths active in Nuremberg, a list that includes many foreigners, in particular from the Low Countries, but no Italians at all.45 Only master-goldsmiths inscribed in the local craft were allowed to run their own workshop: apprentices and journeyman were expected to work in the workshop—and under the supervision—of the master who employed them. Even as late as 1556 Strada is referred to—by the prince of Nuremberg goldsmiths, Wenzel Jamnitzer, who must have known exactly—as ‘an industrious journeyman, quite competent in the art of painting and suchlike, with the name of Jacob Strote’.46 ‘Ein fleissiger Gesellen’: I am not sure whether Jamnitzer just meant ‘a keen fellow’ or more literally ‘an industrious journeyman’, but surely he would not have used the term ‘Gesell’ had Strada been a recognized master in his craft. Even then, the craft Jamnitzer mentions is that of a painter, not that of the goldsmith. My own interpretation of these facts is that Strada basically told the truth to King Maximilian: he had learnt the basics of the goldsmith’s craft as a 44 Strauss pp. 97–106; Schürer 1985(a). 45 A list of recorded names of Nuremberg goldsmiths is given in Schürer 1985(b). 46 Doc. 1556-12-22: ‘ein fleisiger, des malens und anderer dergleichen kunsten wol verstendi- ger gesellen, mit namen Jacob Strote’.