Page - 292 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 5292 Cervinum, Et Horti, Et Inprimis Veteris Quincuncis Descriptio, Authore Georgio Tannero (1558), in Vienna, önb-hs, Cod. 8085; text printed in Chmel 1840–1841, 2, pp. 276–292. Cf. Lietzmann 1987, pp. 29–30; Almási 2009, pp. 115–119; Dobalová 2009, pp.213–218; Van Gelder 2011, pp.62–66. 67 Cataneo 1554; Muchka’s suggestion in Rudolf ii And Prague 1997, iii.243; cf. Muchka 2002. 68 Cataneo 1554, f. 52v.–53v.: <Cap. x.>: ‘Bella cosa è veramente il variare da gli edificii or- dinarii: di che molte volte con lode universale se ne acquista la gratia della repubblica, All this suggest that the two houses were built in conscious emulation of one another. This corresponds with what we know of the personal rivalry be- tween Maximilian—who was titular King of Bohemia and future Emperor, but was given little direct authority by his father—and his brother Ferdinand, who as regent for the Emperor actually governed his elder brother’s kingdom. Such antagonism is not, however, necessary to explain their competition, which might just as well be interpreted as the friendly emulation of brothers enthusi- astically engaging in a common hobby. Certainly their choice of unusual, cen- tralized, geometrical ground plans for their country houses indicates that each was aware of what the other was doing, and they may well have discussed their experiments in their leisure hours. Ivan Muchka has suggested that Hvězda was inspired by similarly unusual plans for palaces in the fourth of Pietro Cataneo’s i primi quattro libri di ar- chitettura, which had come off the Aldine press in Venice only the year before [Figs. 5.56–5.57].67 In fact Cataneo actually describes his proposals as a sort of geometrical experiment: [Ch. x:] It is a good thing to change sometimes from the ordinary build- ings, by which often one obtains both the favour of the Republic or of one’s patron, and the praise of the general public. For that reason I have shown various inventions that came to my mind. In the first place a plan in the form of a cross, derived from a square. And because its wings jut out on all sides, its rooms abound with beautiful light all over <…> [Ch. xi:] In building houses or palaces, one can even go beyond rectan- gular forms, giving them a plan of hexagonal or octagonal form, or with even more angles and sides <…> [Ch. xi:] And not only is it sometimes convenient, for variation’s sake, both in palaces and other buildings, to depart from rectangular figures; sometimes it is even necessary, better to conform to the whims of the pa- tron, to depart from rectilinear figures, and to build the palace according to a circular or oval plan, or some other similar figure.68