Seite - 601 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 2

60�The Musaeum: Its Contents Figure ��.�� The use of plaques of rare marbles in the decoration of the Palazzo Gri- mani at Santa Maria Formosa, realized around the time of Strada’s visits to Venice. antica’ and also the painted portraits of ‘Pope Julius’ and the ‘Greek woman’; a damascened inkwell, and finally a ‘wooden’ book written in Egyptian hiero- glyphics. A large quantity of Hebrew and Arabic books, probably manuscripts, shows that Strada did not forget the Duke’s library.57 12.5.2 Strada’s Acquisitions of Paintings Strada had bought the ‘etliche Gemälde’ included in his account to the Duke (and which were therefore certainly acquired on his behalf) from a certain Guidoto Garotto, a merchant resident in Mantua, about whom nothing further is known. The status of this acquisition is unclear: though three hundred sixty ducats is no paltry sum, apparently the paintings were not highly considered by Strada, if he does not list them individually, like most of the other objects acquired. Or perhaps their purchase was considered as a separate deal, which was only added to his account at the last moment for purely administrative reasons.58 57 BHStA-LA 4853, fols. 16–20; Stockbauer 1874, pp. 34–35. 58 Garotto cannot have been very important, as his name (Garoto, Garottto, Caroto, Carotto etc.) does not occur in Rebecchini’s survey of private collections in Mantua in the six- teenth century (Rebecchini 2002), nor in Venturini’s publication of the voluminous corre- spondence between Mantua and the Imperial court (Venturini 2002).