Page - 481 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

481The Neugebäude Wolfgang Lippmann noted a correspondence between the main building of the Neugebäude and the huge loggia interpreted as a tribuna, a sort of imperial box or grandstand, in Sallustio Peruzzi’s reconstruction drawings of the Circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia [Fig. 9.62], and the similarly monumental gal- lery framed by tower-like pavilions, overlooking the Circus Maximus, shown in Onofrio Panvinio’s fanciful reconstruction of the imperial palace on the Pala- tine hill [Fig. 9.63]. He relates this correspondence to the possible function of the oblong courtyard of the Neugebäude as a tiltyard, in which the main build- ing, in particular the planned south facade of the centre block would have ful- filled a similar function.80 He also relates the Neugebäude to the impressive arcades of the celebrated monument at Tivoli identified at the time with the villa of Maecenas or of Augustus, but now recognized as the sanctuary of Her- cules Victor, dating back to Republican times [Fig. 9.64]. Clearly these monuments, images of which Maximilian could have seen among Strada’s material, may have influenced his ideas, but I am not convinced that the Neugebäude is directly derived from them. The stepped structure of the equally famous sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste (Palestrina) with its terraced structure leading up to a monumental block-like central pa- vilion [Fig. 9.65] would be a better candidate, as it was a source for impor- tant monuments such as Pirro Ligorio’s completion of Bramante’s Belvedere courtyard in the Vatican for Pope Pius iv (1562–1565), and Philibert de l’Orme’s Château Neuf at Saint Germain, built for Henry ii and Catherine de Medici (1556–1559). But even here it should be noted that the Neugebäude conspicu- ously lacks the external ramps leading up from one terrace level to the next. 80 Lippmann 2006–2007, pp. 152–153 and 156–157. Figure 9.62 Sallustio Peruzzi, plan of the Circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia in Rome, drawing; Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi. Figure 9.63 Reconstruction of the Circus Maximus and the Imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill, from Onofrio Panvinio’s De ludis circensibus libri duo, Rome 1565.