Page - 255 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

255Imperial Architect: Background some decades the principal residences of the junior branches of the dynasty. Partly for practical, partly probably also for ideological reasons, the Habsburgs adopted the traditional royal residences of each of these cities—medieval cas- tles often only marginally adapted to contemporary demands—as their own residence and centre of their household. Funds to completely replace these by more up to date constructions lacking, it is only natural that Imperial architec- tural patronage in the sixteenth century remained limited to refurbishments, small additions, adaptations and redecorations. With one notable exception, Emperor Maximilian ii’s Neugebäude near Vienna, the Habsburg country houses, summer residences and hunting lodges were likewise quite modest in size and pretension. 5.2 The Prince as Architect: Ferdinand i and Maximilian ii as Amateurs and Patrons of Architecture 5.2.1 Emperor Ferdinand i The modesty of residential architectural patronage of the Austrian Habsburgs cannot, however, be explained by any lack of interest in the subject. When early in 1558 Strada applied to Ferdinand i to be accepted among his ‘virtuosi’, it seems he represented himself as an antiquarian rather than an architect, so it could be assumed that Ferdinand felt a need for Strada’s competence as an antiquary. But we cannot be really sure about this: in his meeting with the King Strada would not have concealed his talents in the field of architecture, and when in 1560 Strada was formally accorded a fixed and salaried position, it was as an architect assigned to Ferdinand’s building projects in Vienna, rather than as Imperial antiquary, even though he was allowed to use that title. Of course, a connection existed between antiquarian studies and Italian High-Renaissance art and architecture: think of names such as Raphael, Giulio Romano, Serlio, Pirro Ligorio and Palladio. Though it is unlikely that this con- nection was generally perceived in Vienna and Prague in the 1550s, there are sufficient indications that Ferdinand himself and a small circle around him was aware of it. It is certain that Ferdinand was interested in the Antique and himself commissioned works of art inspired by the antique example from an early age: instances have been conveniently summarised in Friedrich Pol- leross’ article ‘Romanitas in der Habsburgischen Repräsentation von Karl v. bis Maximilian ii.’ of 2006. Symbolic of this interest is the fact that Ferdi- nand was portrayed in the guise of a Roman Imperator when he was hardly twenty, in a limestone bust dating from ca 1524, which was later incorporat- ed in an entrance portal of the castle of Staré Hrady near Libáň in Bohemia