Page - 400 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 8400 above, Fig. 5.89; and below, Figs. 15.25, 15.26, 15.30 and 15.38]. There can be no reasonable doubt that all these drawings are in Strada’s hand.31 The most interesting similarity between the two elevation drawings is the manner in which they are projected: the lines were drawn in ink only after the ground- and roofline and the principal axes of the building had been im- pressed into the paper, using a ruler and a dry metal point, and compasses are used to draw the arches and possibly to establish the cardinal points of the proportional system. This process presupposes a prior stage in which quick sketches helped Strada to find solutions for the particular problems posed by this unusual commission; only when he had made up his mind on these he could begin to calculate the proportional system on which to base his design. The resulting drawings represent a worked-out proposal for the Antiquari- um building. Yet it is clear that this remains a proposal, that it is a subject for further deliberation and decision-making, rather than a definitive plan to be handed to the contractor. Probably for that very reason the designs have been very economically drawn: whereas the ground plan is fully worked out, the two elevation drawings present the whole project—a huge building of eigh- teen bays long—in two drawings of just three bays, and even then squeezing in several variant solutions. This is particularly clear in the exterior elevation [Fig. 8.15] which leaves open questions such as the design of the entrance to the building and presents alternative solutions for other elements. Strada had discussed these with Fugger, as is clear from an undated note or aide-memoire in his hand, and from Fugger’s letter to Duke Albrecht of 19 February just cited, in which the Duke was asked to choose the material of the window frames. 31 Certainly there is no reason to suppose that Strada, after having determined ground- plan and interior elevation, needed any hypothetical Mantuan architect to design the exterior elevation, as Horst Stierhof has suggested (Weski/ Frosien Leinz, 1987, Textband, p. 20). Figure 8.14 Reconstruction of the entire Antiquarium, based on Strada’s exterior elevation (Fig. 8.15).