Jacopo Strada (1510 – 1588)

This impressive folio provides a rich display of Italian mannerist metalwork design. The drawings have been attributed to Jacopo Strada (c. 1510 - 1588), the renowned artist and goldsmith who served the most powerful rulers of sixteenth-century Europe. In addition to a highly successful workshop in association with the preeminent Nuremberg goldsmith Wenzel Jamnitzer, he also embarked on a second career, which ultimately proved more rewarding, as an antiquarian and art dealer. Stradas antiquarian activities resulted in his appointment in 1564 as imperial court antiquarian, first to Rudolf Il and then to Maximilian II. The considerable status of this court appointment is fully evoked in the famous portrait of Strada by Titian.

Accompanying a major exhibition at the Serge Sorokko Gallery, Jacopo Strada (1510 - 1588), Mannerist Splendor: Extravagant Designs for a Royal Table, explores a tradition of goldsmith albums that were intended for circulation to both patrons and craftsmen. These drawings, splendidly rendered in ink and brown wash, are a showcase of the artist's powers of disegno and invention. This volume is of particular significance because it constitutes the original sixteenth-century compilation of designs. Its rich array of ornamental form compellingly evokes the elegant environment inhabited, actually or imaginatively, by a highly cultured audience.

Preface by Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator-in-Charge, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Introduction by Sarah Lawrence, Director, Master of Arts Program in the History of Decorative Arts and Design, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution