Seite - 196 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

Chapter 4196 Strada did take advantage of his trip to Prague to pay a visit to Regens- burg, where a Diet was in progress in the presence of the new Emperor. He was received in audience probably on 5 February, when Ferdinand accorded him an Ehrengeschenk of hundred Thaler.14 Poor Ferdinand! While engaged in complex and important political negotiations, and worrying about the Turks in Hungary and about the wayward behaviour of his eldest son, he was also beset by swarms of figures such as Strada seeking his patronage: only a few days later the Hofkammer made a list of recent payments to a number of similar clients. One can only hope that the talents of at least some of them occasionally dis- tracted the Emperor from his cares, as will have been the case with Orlando di Lasso, who precedes Strada in this list.15 In view of Ferdinand’s interest in Antiquity, and in particular in ancient coins, Strada’s visit may likewise have served as a welcome distraction: Strada had prepared a present for the Em- peror, a set of drawings of Roman Republican coinage. This manuscript, the first volume of De consularibus numismata, is similar in concept and execution to the numismatic works he had produced for Fug- ger and for his unknown French patron.16 Its beautifully illuminated title page, including the Imperial coat of arms [Fig. 4.4], betrays its original destination: the panel in the pedestal of the left column is covered by a strip of marbled paper hiding a drawing of Charles v’s emblem showing the Pillars of Hercules, accompanied with the famous device Plus Ultra. Ferdinand’s appreciation of this gift was expressed in the Ehrengeschenk that he accorded Strada on this occasion, and in his interest in the second volume of the work, which Strada promised to finish for him.17 Strada presented his manuscript to Ferdinand not merely in the hope of obtaining the habitual financial reward, but also as a means to draw the Em- peror’s attention to his person and his qualifications. This is borne out by his 14 DOC. 1557-02-05. 15 DOCS. 1557-02-05 and 1557-02-08. 16 önb-hs, cod. 9411–9412; the Fugger manuscripts are now in Gotha and London, the French volume, dated 1554, in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal in Paris; cf. above, Ch. 3.3. 17 DOC. 1558-02-12: Strada refers to his visit in Regensburg. Von Busch 1973, p. 199 and p. 335, note 47, cites this letter as directed to Maximilian. This is incorrect: it is addressed to the King of the Romans, which was Ferdinand i, whose succession to Charles as Emperor was formally confirmed by the College of Electors only on 14 March 1558. For the same reason Strada’s dedication of his edition of Panvinio’s Epitome pontificum romanorum of 1557 reads: ‘Domino D. Ferdinando Romani Imperii Caesari designato’. Maximilian was elected King of the Romans only during the Frankfurt Diet of 1562 (election 24 November, corona- tion 30 November). The letter refers to Strada’s meeting with the addressee in Regensburg, and the latter’s visit to Strada’s studio, probably in Nuremberg: since Maximilian did not set foot in Germany proper between his return from Brussels in the early autumn of 1556 (he merely spent one night, 11–12 September, in Regensburg) and the Frankfurt Diet (ar- rival 23 October) it is out of the question that Maximilian is meant.