Seite - 856 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 2

Chapter 16856 whose own interest in the field and qualities as a draughtsman must have been known to him either through earlier acquaintance in Italy or through Strada’s activities in Germany. Strada’s competences and curriculum perfectly fitted Fugger’s purpose. He may well have arrived in Germany in the course of the most spectacular introduction of an Italian novelty in Germany, the construc- tion of the Italienische Bau of the Stadtresidenz in Landshut. Already while active in Germany in the 1540s he collaborated with the most advanced or in- novating of the local artists, Wenzel Jamnitzer. Fugger’s commissions enabled Strada to develop his own numismatic method: though not revolutionary, this was itself innovative in a quiet sort of way, as shown in the preceding chapter, and its results were published in a format which was quite advanced even for Italy. Thus, in supporting Strada’s studies, Fugger acted as an innovator. But he also acted as an early adopter when he accepted some ideas—such as the importance of visual documents as sources of information, and the method to pursue these, from Strada in his role as a change agent. When Fugger moved to Munich it was natural that he would continue to employ Strada, by that time an associate of well over a decade, to assist him in giving shape to Duke Albrecht’s cultural and intellectual ambitions. Moreover it was probably Fugger who, as a trusted opinion leader, insti- gated or at least facilitated Strada’s introduction to another patron, Emperor Ferdinand i. Just like Fugger, at an early date Ferdinand had shown himself interested in at least two of the innovations Strada promoted: classical nu- mismatics—Ferdinand had just commissioned a description of his own coin collection—and the use of the classical style in architecture, as shown in his building activities both in Prague and in Vienna. As discussed in Chapter 5.2, both Ferdinand i and his two eldest sons, King Maximilian of Bohemia and Archduke Ferdinand ii of Tirol, had been aware of the new ideas even before Strada arrived at court, mostly through their dynastic and political ties both in Italy—such as Mantua—and in other countries in Europe, in particular the courts of Emperor Charles v and King Francis i of France. Peer pressure, the need to uphold their status in relation to such royal relatives, to the wealthy Princes of the Empire—such as the Elector of Saxony and the Dukes of Ba- varia and Jülich—and to the richest magnates in their own territories—such as Rožmberk and Strein von Schwarzenau—stimulated their personal interest and their ambition to introduce suitable innovations in their own domains. As in Munich some consciousness that this fostered progress, that it served the political, military and economic interests of the dynasty, and contributed to the prosperity of their peoples, must have played a role. The appointment at court of learned men who appear to have been employed primarily to do their own work—some of them quite famous in their respective fields, such as