Page - 330 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 5330 Preda suggested that this ‘defect’ that might be obviated: ‘Aber die Rauchen stain daran glat zumachen mag woll geschehen’ (Dreger 1914, p. 104.), a suggestion which Ferdinand seems to have condoned. 137 In their letter to the King the members of Niederösterreichische Kammer question Schal- lautzer’s and Pozzo’s statement that the piers were constructed in accordance with his explicit wishes: ‘So haben Sy uns doch bayd, und fünemblich der Schallauczer alweeg zuverstehen geben, Es sey Eur. Khn. Mt. außtrukhlicher Bevelh’, quoted in Dreger 1914, pp. 103–104. Dreger already suspected that the unusual Renaissance forms of these piers had contributed to the misgivings of the Vienna masons and architects, because it did not fit their Late-Gothic artistic perception (‘Kunstempfinden’). Oddly enough, Bonifaz Wolmut was among the critics, though in his case this was probably due to his doubts as to the propriety of these forms in this particular place, rather than to any lack of artistic percep- tion of Renaissance architecture. 138 There appears little doubt that these piers are relics of the 1549–1551 restructuring (cf. Dreger 1914, p. 158). The architecture suggests that it may have been intended to restruc- ture in this manner at least one of the courtyard facades (that of the south-west-façade, housing the royal apartment?); if so, any traces of this would have disappeared when a new, even more monumental staircase hall was constructed in front of this façade. But in view of the little that remains, this seems unlikely, and even if planned, it may never have bene executed because of the huge expense it would have involved. 139 Possibly the appointment of Hans Tirol as an architect in 1551 can be seen as a first at- tempt to fill this lacuna? outside of their frame of reference, though neither outside that of Sigmund de Preda and Schallautzer, who supported Pozzo, nor that of Ferdinand, who had commissioned the designs and approved them even after having considered the criticism.137 Though after further consultation he decided for Pozzo’s proj- ect, the little that remains suggests that in fact it never progressed beyond the initial stage.138 This fiasco must have given Ferdinand food for thought: he may have re- alized that, though he had sufficient competent engineers, his court lacked a competent and sufficiently authoritative designer, preferably proficient in the new Italian or Vitruvian manner.139 Though the handling of this case— with its complicated deliberations and its piling-up of alternative designs and models—show that civil architecture was taken quite seriously at court, it had less priority than military engineering, even when intended for Ferdinand himself; doubtless for political and economic reasons. In September 1555, how- ever, Charles v intimated his intention to abdicate, and Ferdinand began or- ganizing the complex process to insure his smooth succession to the Empire. It was clear that this change in status made it more urgent to fill the lacuna. It seems that Strada was the right person, in the right place at the right moment. The manuscript Strada had presented to Ferdinand, during his first documented audience with the King in Regensburg early in 1557, demonstrated his compe- tence as an antiquary; Ferdinand’s visit to Strada’s studio in Nuremberg almost a year later had made him aware of the treasure of visual documentation this