Jacopo Stradas Magnum ac Novum Opus: A 16th-Century Numismatic Corpus. Phase 2b

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Jacopo Strada’s Magnum ac Novum Opus, a corpus of drawings of coins of the Roman Empire presents over 9.000 numismatic drawings, preserved in 30 volumes of Imperial coins now in the Forschungbibliothek Gotha, and 4 volumes of Roman Republican coins now in the British Library. Begun ca 1550 for Hans Jakob Fugger, the corpus entered the Kunstkammer of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in 1566. Strada complemented the drawings with a separate commentary, A. A. A. NumismatΩn Antiquorum Διασκευή, preserved in two 11-volume manuscripts now in Vienna and Prague. The project aims to unite and comment the images and texts, to present these in an on-line digital edition, and to study the material in its historical and artistic context. In Phase 1 Strada’s coin-drawings in Gotha and his coin-descriptions in Vienna have been digitized and transcribed. For the first “Twelve Emperors”, the drawings (Gotha vols. 1-14; ca 4.100 drawings) and related descriptions have been entered in the database of the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance, and linked to one another and to the authentic coin-type that served as Strada’s source: an indispensable requirement for the subsequent investigation of Strada’s work, and its significance for the history of numismatics and of 16th-century antiquarian studies in general. By means of custom-designed software, drawings and descriptions will also be entered integrally into the database of the Translatio Nummorum project. The material has been physically examined, related to other numismatic material from Strada’s workshop, and studied within the context of Fugger’s intellectual patronage. It provides a critical assessment of Strada’s numismatic method, considered in the context of mid-16th century antiquarianism. In Phase 2, the Gotha volumes 16-30 (ca 4.600 drawings) will be included, and elaborated likewise, thus completing the digital edition. These volumes cover the coinage of the later Roman, Byzantine and Medieval Emperors, relatively unexplored fields both in the 16th century itself, and in modern studies of Renaissance scholarship. This will allow an analysis of Strada’s handling of these more unusual sources. The availability of the entire digitized corpus will afford more definitive conclusions as to Strada’s method, and an evaluation of the reception of his work. The function of Strada’s numismatic material will be studied in relation to the other visual documentation produced in his workshop; Fugger’s commission of the Magnum opus will be studied in the wider context of his political convictions and his close association with the Imperial court; and an overview and analysis of the coin-collections in Italy, France and Germany that served as Strada’s sources, will provide a detailed contribution the history of Renaissance collecting. To complete this second phase project, the funding for a final sixth year is urgently needed.