Seite - 132 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

Chapter 3132 For both Fugger and Strada, such material was an indispensable comple- ment of the books preserved in the library, and it is presented as a completely integral part of the ‘Theatre’ or ideal museum sketched in Samuel Quicche- berg’s Inscriptiones vel tituli theatri amplissimi. Quiccheberg, who from the late 1550s onward was responsible for Fugger’s library and collection, already had links with Fugger in the late 1540s, and he may well have participated in discus- sions about this aspect of the collection. He certainly singled out this aspect of Fugger’s library for special praise, and explicitly mentions Strada’s Magnum opus in his description: Raymund has indeed with this same brother [= Hans Jakob] and advised by Jacopo Strada acquired antique statues, and books in which countless coins are separately painted, in so many volumes that if they had to be transported they would burden many pack-mules.40 Nonetheless his argument in favour of the inclusion of such material in his Theatre, for instance in a section exclusively devoted to copper-engravings, was neither profound nor particularly original: So in time such albums and other materials are increased by diligent pa- trons to such an extent, that solely from these images it appears possible to acquire knowledge of many subjects, for the observation of a single image makes a greater impression in the mind than the daily reading of many pages [of text].41 Apart from providing his patron’s library or Kunstkammer with these fruits of his erudition and diligence, Strada probably also acquired various antiquities for Fugger’s cabinet, in particular ancient coins and medals. Strada was very much at home in the shops of the goldsmiths and jewellers, which had become manuscripts of his important writings on ecclesiastical history. On his effigies and arms of the Popes (likewise in Munich, bsb-hs, Clm. 155–160), see Hartig 1917b. 40 Quiccheberg 1565, p. G iii-v.: ‘Raimundus vero cum eodem fratre, antiquarum statuarum, librorumque in quibus innumera numismata privatim depinguntur, tanta volumina adhibito Iacobo a Strada conquisivit, ut si asportandi sunt, eis aliquot clitellarii muli de- beant onerari; cuius argumenti exemplari solum in Caesareis museis apud Maximilianum Imperatorum conservantur augenturque’. 41 Quiccheberg 1565, p. E iv-v.: ‘Subinde ergo huius instituti fasciculi et materiae a diligenti- oribus patronis adeo augentur, ut quam plurimarum disciplinarum ex his solum imagini- bus cognitio acquiri posse videatur, plus enim quandoque praestat memoriae inspectio solum alicuius picturae quam diuturna lectio multarum paginarum’.