Seite - 335 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

335Imperial Architect: Background 148 All this material discussed in greater detail below, Ch. 13. had obtained from various sources; but also the manuscript of a military trea- tise by the French general Guillaume du Bellay, and a set of drawings of medi- eval weapons, armour, and war machinery. But even such relatively contemporary material appears to have been col- lected for its antiquarian and documentary value, rather than for immediate practical application. This is certainly the case with the comparable documen- tation on the battle order of the ancient Romans—which in fact was an inte- gral reproduction of Giulio Romano’s frieze in the Camera degli Stucchi of the Palazzo del Te—and of their manner of encamping an army as reconstructed by Sebastiano Serlio on the basis of Polybius’ Castrametatio. It is significant that contemporary fortification is conspicuously lacking among the materials Strada singled out for publication, though his Musaeum doubtless included at least printed versions of such material.148 After his prolonged stay in France and in Rome, during which he had made these acquisitions, Strada had returned to Nuremberg. As we have seen, the new Emperor, Ferdinand i, had received Strada in audience and had visited his studio in person, so he was aware of the latter’s first-hand experience of the most recent developments in the arts. His decision to take Strada into his service must have been motivated at least as much by his architectural and artistic know-how as by his antiquarian expertise. Though Strada had presented himself as an antiquary and was initially consulted in this latter capacity, when he obtained a formal appointment at court it was in his capacity as an architect. One of Ferdinand principal cares was the defence of his territories against the Turks, and most of the architects and masons in his service were primarily employed in fortification in Hungary. But in contrast with most other Imperial architects of the time, there is no direct evidence that Strada was ever actively employed in fortifications or other military commissions. All the same, in view of the continuing Turkish presence in Hungary, it cannot be excluded that Strada occasionally was recruited for the war effort. The invention of gunpowder and the development of ever more effective artillery had disqualified traditional warfare on the medieval pattern, espe- cially where siege warfare was concerned. For the battlefield, however, and perhaps for the logistics of campaigns in the field, the classical art of warfare as expounded in Polybius, Vegetius and Caesar was not yet redundant, and Strada may well have been asked to help conciliate ancient precept and mod- ern practice: of the latter he must have been aware thanks to his earlier con- nection with as famous a general as the Marquis of Marignano and his circle.