Seite - 189 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

189Tasks at the Imperial Court expensive—printmakers. It is not surprising that Strada was looking around for influential and affluent patrons, other than Hans Jakob Fugger. Though Fugger certainly would have applauded Strada’s intentions, he was getting into finan- cial trouble—largely due to the reluctance with which Charles v and Philip ii satisfied their creditors—which would lead to his bankruptcy in 1564; so he could not on his own advance the sums Strada would need. As we have seen, Strada appears to have attempted to obtain permanent patronage already in Rome, and he claimed to have obtained such patronage from Popes Julius iii and Marcellus ii; in view of his sustained support for antiquarian studies be- fore his election, the latter would have been particularly sensitive to Strada’s proposals. The unexpected brevity of Marcellus’ reign and the accession of Paul iv Carafa—unfortunate for far greater interests than Strada’s—shattered such possibilities; like other aspiring scholars Strada had to look elsewhere for the protection he needed. Thus in October 1557 his own acquaintance Onofrio Panvinio, though assured of a fixed position in Cardinal Farnese’s household, consulted Antonio Agustín whether he should dedicate a forthcoming book to Maximilian, Archduke of Austria and, since 1548, titular King of Bohemia, or whether it was preferable to choose Maximilian’s cousin and brother-in-law, Philip ii of Spain. Agustín, who coupled a sincere faith and a profound knowl- edge of classical Antiquity with a remarkable astuteness in more mundane matters, formulated his advice as follows: <...>between these two princes I would choose the one that is at present more highly considered, and the better friend of your patron [this was Cardinal Alessandro Farnese], that is the King of Spain, even though the other is closer to the Empire; but he will be a king of chess without the help of his cousin.2 After having just failed to obtain the patronage of the Pope, it is not surpris- ing that Strada should have thought of applying to the highest ranking secular patron of Christianity, the Emperor, or to other members of his august house, with which his own researches were so inextricably connected. It is just pos- sible that he considered Philip ii as a potential patron: at the time Philip was not merely king of England and, soon afterward (16 January 1556), of Spain, but he had not yet been ruled out as his father’s successor to the Empire. Years later 2 ‘<...>tra quelli duoi principi pigliaria quel che hora è più sublime, e più amico del Vostro pa- tron [this was Alessandro Cardinal Farnese], idest il Re di Spagna, benchè l’altro sia più pro- pinquo all’Imperio; ma sarà un Re di scacchi senza l’agiuto del suo nepote<...>’, letter dated Rome, 2 October 1557, published in AGUSTÍN 1980, nr. 191, p. 277.