Page - 480 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 9480 This is very close in design and feeling to the so-called ‘Schöne Säle’ located under both the colonnades of the main building of the Neugebäude [Fig. 9.61]. Taking the place of the substructure of the South Gallery at Split, these can be considered as a Renaissance interpretation of the antique cryptoporticus, as at Anet doubtless a conscious interpretation.78 9.9 Classical Sources: Monuments of Ancient Rome Though the Neugebäude does not imitate elements of Diocletian’s Palace ex- actly, there is some correspondence in its general lay-out and some similiarity in various individual elements. The remnant of similar ancient monuments in Rome itself were much better known than Split, through countless learned, often illustrated publications, as well as through many topographical prints. Moreover Maximilian could consult the huge quantity of visual documenta- tion in the field in Strada’s collection, including sketches and reconstructions by Raphael, Giulio Romano and Sebastiano Serlio and also including a set of measured drawings of ancient monuments prepared by Strada himself.79 78 To avoid confusion, I should note that in the literature on the Neugebäude the term ‘Kryp- toporticus’ is occasionally used for the subterranean corridors leading down to the Lower garden from the Mittelrisalit. I will refrain from using the term cryptoporticus to refer to any of the existing spaces in the Neugebäude, using ‘Schöne Säle’ or ‘lower halls’ for the principal spaces on the lower level of the main building, and ‘garden passages’ for the corridors to the garden. 79 Index sive catalogus, nr 34: ‘Item aliquot libri, manu delineati, de aedificiis et architectura, quibus imprimis delector, et quos ipsemet delineavi de antiquissimis aedificiis, et quan- tum fieri potuit in unum contraxi; una cum partibus dimensuratis’. Figure 9.60 Philibert de l’Orme, Cryptoportique at the Château d’Anet, built 1547–1552 for Diane de Poitiers. Figure 9.61 The lower hall in the west wing of the Neugebäude (looking east).