Page - 401 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

401The Munich Antiquarium Strada’s design could help him make up his mind: it presents alternative solu- tions to be executed in wood (lower right) or in stone, with carefully executed profiles (central lower window). Illustration 8.14 shows a perfunctory recon- struction, obtained by the simple repetition of one bay of the exterior eleva- tion, which allows a more tangible idea of Strada’s intention, in particular the monumental effect he aimed at.32 8.5 Strada’s Project: The Building A careful examination of Strada’s drawings tells us how he thought an impor- tant collection of antiquities should be presented and helps us to get some idea of his views on the practice of architecture and of his sources of inspira- tion. It has been suggested that Fugger had brought the earlier, Munich design with him to Vienna, which is very likely because Strada was expected to give his advice on all proposals.33 Though it may have helped him to make up his mind about his own solutions, there is little indication that he was particularly influenced by it. Most obvious similarities can easily be explained by the set conditions of the Duke’s commission. This holds in particular for the concept and the general proportions of the building. Because no ground plan of the 1568 design has been preserved, we cannot be sure of its exact proportions. Certainly it cannot have been very similar to Strada’s design, since the 1568 design is for a building of three bays wide and seventeen bays long, i.e. an uneven number of bays and a huge dormer gable stressing the centre [Fig. 8.04], whereas Strada’s ground plan shows that he opted for a length of eighteen bays, an even number [Fig. 8.17]. This implies that there was no central bay on the long facades and their centre was un- stressed. This was a conscious choice, indicating that Strada considered the building’s longitudinal axis as its principal axis, and its narrow entrance front as its principal facade. That is, Strada designed a gallery or loggia rather than a free-standing ‘palazzo’.34 The only relevant similarity between the two designs 32 The image is the result of a simple digital manipulation of the elevation design. It is mere- ly intended to convey an impression of the building as Strada planned it, not a scientific reconstruction. 33 Hubala 1958–1959, p. 154–155 discusses the relationship between Strada’s drawings and the Munich design, which he considers as the ‘Grundlage der Skizzen Stradas’. 34 It might also indicate that Strada foresaw the later development of a courtyard of which the Antiquarium would provide one side, in the manner of the Ducal Palace in Man- tua, and as effectually realized in Munich some decades later. Hubala 1958–1959, p. 135, explains the different number of bays ‘aufgrund einer pedantischen Gleichsetzung von