Page - 433 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

433The Neugebäude Kaiserebersdorf was the principal commission for a largely new-built residen- tial construction initiated by Ferdinand i. It was the only country and hunting residence close to Vienna that was sufficiently large to lodge a substantial por- tion of the Imperial entourage, and it must have played a significant role in Imperial representation. Its relative importance is indicated by the fact that it was included in the selection of Austrian sites—the principal cities of the Erblande—depicted on the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence when in the autumn of 1565 this was richly decorated to serve as a welcome for Ferdi- nand’s daughter, Archduchess Johanna of Austria, bride of Francesco, eldest son and heir of Cosimo i de’ Medici [Fig. 9.6].5 The earliest reliable image we have is much later, a print by Georg Matthäus Vischer of 1672 [Fig. 9.7], but coupled with the evidence provided by recent detailed research of the remaining fabric, it is clear that the castle as rebuilt by Ferdinand and Maximilian from 1551 onward was a square block consisting of four wings around a small inner courtyard. It may have been designed by Lorenzo Ferrabosco, a master mason who died shortly after the ceremonial lay- ing of its foundation stone on 15 February 1551, when he was succeeded by his brother Pietro. As we have seen, the painter Pietro Ferrabosco would change career and become one of the principal executive architects at court.6 Its struc- ture and the sober, regular articulation of its facades relate Ebersdorf both to the restructuring of the Hofburg in the late 1540s and to the Stallburg. Structural building went on until about 1565, when the ‘steinmetze’ Bartholomäus Bethan 5 Kaiserebersdorf, nowadays a high-security prison, has recently been subjected to detailed structural and archaeological research, the results of which were lavishly published in Müller/Krause 2008. 6 The death of his brother, forcing Pietro to take over his responsibilities, may have been a prime motif for his change of direction. Later Schallautzer and Thomas Eiseler appear to be coordinating construction at Ebersdorf; cf. Müller/Krause 2008, pp. 44 and 46. Figure 9.6 View of Ebersdorf, wall-painting in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1565. Figure 9.7 View of Ebersdorf, engraving by Georg Matthäeus Vischer, 1672.