Page - 72 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 272 Afterwards we have eaten dinner out of town in the new palace he is building, the equal of which, I believe, cannot be seen anywhere, for sumptuous rooms and buildings, and also for painting; about which there is much that could be written or said. I haven written to you from Trent by means of Lienhart Zeller, about the residence of the Bishop of Trent, this really cannot be compared to it, this is far superior….12 Ludwig’s trip, and his direct experience of the most advanced architecture and decoration of the Italian courts he had visited, in particular the Palazzo del Te, inspired him fundamentally to modify the projects for his new Stadtres- idenz. Though in 1537 the Deutsche Bau was finished according to the original plans, the remaining wings, enclosing the central courtyard, were constructed according to a new design, which is not only certainly of Italian origin, but also of a truly exceptional quality [Figs. 2.01–2.09]. The attribution of the design of this Italienische Bau is still a matter of dispute, though its Mantuan origin is generally accepted. It is likewise gener- ally agreed that the two totally unknown architects or master-masons from Mantua—‘Meister Sigmund welscher paumeister sambt Anthonien sein Mit- gesellen, baid Wahlen von Manntua’—who arrived already in January 1537 to supervise its construction, cannot have provided a design of such obvious ex- cellence.13 Kurt Forster in fact has proposed that the design was commissioned from Giulio Romano himself: he explains the relatively orthodox classicism of its architecture, which incorporates little typically Giuliesque mannerist detail, by considering it as a preliminary exercise for the Palazzo Thiene in Vicenza. Forster follows Scamozzi and Inigo Jones in attributing the original concep- tion of this grandest of Palladian palaces to Giulio.14 Though other specialists, 12 Duke Ludwig’s letter printed in Lauterbach / Endemann / Frommel 1998, p. 261.: ‘Darn- ach haben wir d(r)aussen das nach(t)mal gessen in dem neuen palast, so er paud, der geleichen glaub ich, daß kain sollicher gesehen worden an köstlichen gemachen und ge- pei, auch gemäll, darvon vil zu schreiben und zu sagen wär. Ich hab dir von Thrient aus bei Lienhart Zeller geschriben und entboten, des bischoff von Thrient behausung halb, ist warlich dem nit geleichen. Das ist weid dariber <…>’. After visits to Ferrara and Bologna, Ludwig paid a second, very brief visit to Mantua towards the end of October. 13 Mitterwieser 1922, p. 124; here quoted as in Wartena/ Erichsen 2009, p. 96; they were followed shortly afterwards by a ‘Meister Bernhard walch’, who returned almost immediately to Man- tua to engage a number of masons, and appears to have acted as their foreman. Johannes Erichsen (ibid., pp. 96–97) appears to accept the possibility that Maister Sigmund was suf- ficiently capable to independently execute designs made or at least corrected by Giulio. 14 Forster 1989; the attribution of the design of Palazzo Thiene to Giulio was first advanced by Ackerman 1966, pp. 94–98; see now Burns 1989(b), who cites the relevant literature, and Lauterbach / Endemann / Frommel 1998, pp. 77–84.