Seite - 348 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

Chapter 6348 <…>the design or Visierung of the tomb as a whole should absolutely be made by one hand, preferably the hand that made the design of the Em- peror’s person and the putti etc. on top of the grave.15 This passage provides a remarkable parallel to Strada’s earlier advice in the matter of Archduke Ferdinand’s table fountain, where he likewise insisted on the importance of a detailed, architectural plan or even a three-dimensional model, and one single ‘supervisor who well understands the planned work, so that he can guide the masters employed in it’.16 Whether Strada would have pretended to such a function in the case of Maximilian’s tomb is not clear, certainly there are no positive indications that he was further involved in it. All the same, being present at court as an acknowledged expert, it is not unlikely that he continued to contribute informally to the development of the proj- ect. Thus the classicist armorial trophies used as a socle zone in Abel’s design [Fig.  6.6] may have been based on antiquarian drawings from his collection or even on Strada’s own numismatics sketches [Fig. 6.5]. The similarity between the two caryatids at the corners of Abel’s design— personifications of the virtues of Faith and Hope—and some of the female figures in Strada’s albums—particularly his renderings of antique statues—is 15 Schönherr 1890, Appendix ii, p. 265: ‘Beschlieszlich soll die entwerfung oder visierung des ganzen grabs von ainer hand gemaht werden und fallen all der hant zue, so die kaiserlich perschon sambt den khindlen etc. auf dem grab entworfen hat.’ 16 DOC. 1556-12-22: ‘Et anche male in disegno si potra mostrare, per esser lavoro che pigli- ara molto spatio, et a volerlo dar ben ad intendere, bisognaria farne un modello, overo patrone, nel modo come si fa quando si vole edificar un palazzo, acciò che li maestri che lavorerano se ne possino servire. Anchora bisognaria che ci fusse un sopra capo, che in- tendesse il lavoro, acciò sapesse guidar li maestri; altramente l’opera andaria in una spesa infinita, et anche per aventura sarebe male a Sua satisfatione.’ Figures 6.5–6.6 Jacopo Strada, detail of a reconstruction of a triumphal arch derived from a Roman coin (detail of Fig. 15.26), compared to the socle zone of Florian Abel’s design for the tomb of Maximilian i (detail of Fig. 6.3).