Page - 352 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 635� illustrated  in  detail  in Francesco Terzio’s print of what may have been the in- augural dinner of the Taflstube.21 Such ceilings had not only been illustrated by Serlio [Fig. 6.14–6.15], they had also been executed after his own designs, for instance in the library of the Ducal palace in Venice (1528–1531) and in the various rooms of the Castle of Ancy-le Franc, built after his designs in the mid-1540s.22 At this date, Strada was probably the only artist at court who knew such designs not only from paper, but had actually seen them executed in Italy and perhaps in France. It is very likely that the ceiling of the Taflstube, if it was not actually designed by him, was at least inspired by his collection of materials, in particular his Serlio manuscripts, and his comments on them. 6.4 The Tanzhaus On the basis of its Serlian design the ceiling of the Taflstube can thus be tenta- tively linked to Strada. There are no data about other contributions to the con- version of the Hofburg proper. Most of the construction work had already been done, begun or at least planned before he arrived, and would have been too far advanced for him to have any influence on its architecture. I think it quite possible, however, that he did contribute designs for its interior decoration, in 21 Terzio did not quite grasp the structural base of the ceiling: in his perspective rendering the foreshortening reduces the width of the principal beams to narrow edges; though this might be possible, the small rosettes, indicated on their crossings, reflecting Serlio’s designs, suggest that they were in reality wider. 22 Frommel 2002, pp. 186–199. Figure 6.�3 Ceiling of the grosse Taflstube in the Vienna Hofburg, rdetail of Fig. 5.75.