Page - 407 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

407The Munich Antiquarium The fireplace Strada planned in the main hall of the Antiquarium was located in the central bay of the end wall [Fig. 8.19]. Though huge, it would barely suffice to keep the main hall above freezing point during the Bavarian winters. Strada probably included it primarily to serve in spring and autumn, on the festive occasions—banquets, receptions, concerts, perhaps dances and masques—for which this huge room was perfectly suitable and for which it probably was also intended. On such occasions the doubtless monumental chimneypiece would serve as a backdrop for the Duke, his consort, and their most important guests. Strada’s design thus foreshadows the adaptation of the Antiquarium to a predominantly representative use by Albrecht’s son, Duke Wilhelm v, and his grandson, Duke Maximilian i, in the last two decades of the sixteenth century.39 [Fig. 8.23] As we have seen, the main hall as Strada planned it was fifteen bays long and three bays wide, which corresponds to a proportion of 5 : 1. Measured in the Bavarian ‘Schuh’ or foot of ca 29, 1 cm which Strada used, this results in a huge hall of about 60 × 12 meters. The ground plan shows that both long and short walls were articulated by coupled pilasters or columns. These correspond to the larger semicolumns articulating the outside walls, basically creating vo- luminous wall-piers, the mass of which could possibly carry the transverse beams of a wooden roof, but which were actually intended to receive the land- ing points of the vaults planned to span the hall. The projecting piers created wide rectangular niches all of exactly the same dimensions, which were lit by the windows indicated in the outer walls; the central bay of the west wall was taken up by the entrance, that of the east wall by the mantelpiece; the latter was flanked by smaller doors giving access to the two cabinets in the lateral bays. 8.6 The Interior Elevation Whereas the ground plan has been carefully drawn in great detail, the interior elevation [Fig. 8.20] at first sight seems much more cursory, and that is precisely what it is: a quick sketch to visualize Strada’s intentions, to be discussed during the planned meeting with the Duke and Fugger. Apparently Strada did not care to waste his time in drawing definitive designs before definitive decisions had been taken. So he sketched a mere three bays, the elevation of which is valid 39 On this restructuring and redecorating, see Von Busch 1973, pp. 164–174; Weski/Frosien Leinz 1987, pp. 50–56; Diemer/Diemer 1995, in which they point out that the existing chimneypiece was preceded by an earlier one (p. 83 and Fig. 25).