Seite - 165 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

165In Hans Jakob Fugger’s Service Discussions such as that described by Pighius appear to have regularly taken place, and they often included not only erudite humanists, but also erudite artists, whose opinion was valued especially for the practical expertise they could contribute. This often concerned architectural questions, especially in the more or less informal sessions of the Vitruvian Academy as reported by the learned bishop Girolamo Garimberti, who mentions the painter Sebastiano del Piombo and the architects Jacopo Meleghino and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger among the discussants.100 Artists were prized as exact draughtsmen who could document the ancient relics in precise drawings, which greatly fa- cilitated comparative research, and whose measured drawings of the ancient ruins were indispensable for any interpretations of their original appearance and function. Already about 1537 three leading members of the Academy, Mar- cello Cervini [Fig. 3.88], Bernardino Maffei and Alessandro Manzuoli, had, ac- cording to Vasari, commissioned the young Vignola ‘di misurare interamente tutte l’anticaglie di Roma’.101 Such studies, moreover, were of great importance for a better understanding of Vitruvius’ text, many passages of which were quite obscure, as Strada himself would underline in the preface of his edition of Serlio’s Settimo libro. Of course those artists whose education and interest enabled them to understand this scholarly function of the drawings they pre- pared were particularly prized. Such learned artists certainly were not discour- aged to express their opinion on other antiquarian subjects: the best example is Pirro Ligorio, to whose impressive compilation of antiquarian material hu- manist scholars such as Agustín continuously had recourse, and whose help and suggestions were often gratefully acknowledged.102 3.7.2 Strada’s Contacts in Rome It is not known whether Strada had kept up with any friends and professional connections he had made during his earlier sojourns in Rome. But even if he had not, his reception was guaranteed partly by his connection with Hans Ja- kob Fugger and partly by his own achievements. The Fugger firm had always maintained an important branch in Rome, and their participation in the cul- tural life of the Urbs is demonstrated by the chapel they dedicated in Santa Ma- ria dell’ Anima, for which Hans Jakob’s grandfather Jakob had commissioned an altarpiece from Giulio Romano, and by the inclusion of a description of Venice, 1737, sp. 1139–1184. On Pighius, see Jongkees 1954; Gunter Schweikhart and Hilde Hiller in Harprath/Wrede 1989, resp. pp. 157–166 and 167–184; Daly Davis 1989, p. 197; on Morrillon: Wrede 1993 and Crawford 1998. 100 In his De regimenti publici de la città, Venice 1554, quoted by Daly Davis 1989, p. 189. 101 Vasari/ Milanesi 1878–1885, 7, p. 106. 102 Mandowsky/Mitchell 1963, pp. 30–34.