Page - 517 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

517Other Patrons of Architecture have been shown, and the ideas he could have heard expound, by his new col- league at the Imperial court.2 10.2 The Residence for Archduke Ernest In view of Strada’s position as architect at court, and his bid for employment as an architect to Archduke Ernest, it is tempting to suspect his involvement in the first plans for the Amalienburg. From 1711 to 1742 the residence of the dowa- ger Empress Amalia Wilhelmine, this building, on the north side of the Hof- burg complex, was originally built as the residence for Archduke Ernest, who functioned as his brother’s Lord-lieutenant in Austria after Rudolf ii moved his court to Prague. At the time it was known simply as the ‘Neue Stockh’, ‘das neue Gebeu <…> in der Burg’, or even the ‘Neue Burck’. Apart from the Stallburg, it constitutes the most voluminous addition to the Hofburg in the sixteenth cen- tury, yet the early history of this impressive block was until recently even less documented than that of the Stallburg. Thanks to Renate Holzschuh-Hofer’s research within the framework of the Hofburg project, many open questions have finally been answered.3 The Amalienburg, Neue Burg or Ernestinische Trakt, was constructed on the site of the old Zeughaus or arsenal, a complex of several smaller buildings used for various practical, administrative and residential functions. For some of these Maximilian ii had, shortly before his unexpected death, initiated mod- est repairs and extensions. These were continued by Archduke Ernest, and be- tween 1582 and 1585 he had the whole complex, part of which he destined for his own residence, reconstructed and renovated. The use of the pre-existent fabric of the Zeughaus determined the odd, trapezium-shaped ground plan, but the elevation of the building was given a unified aspect, very simple and severe, and quite reminiscent of the Stallburg. Its exterior, as can be surmised on the basis of two prints from 1598 and 1601 [Fig. 10.4], was as simple and severe as the exteriors of the Stallburg: a quite sober block consisting of two floors over a closed rustica zone, anticipating the later, still existent articulation of the façade.4 But its finish closely resembled 2 On the other hand a case could be made for an attribution of the design to Bonifaz Wolmut on stylistic grounds: the Landhaus courtyard is close in spirit to his Ballhaus and the organ loft in the Cathedral, both in Prague. 3 Holzschuh-Hofer 2014(d); the information available earlier summarized in Kühnel 1958, pp.  268–272 and Kühnel 1971, pp. 45–49. 4 The prints illustrate the executions of respectively Count Ferdinand von Hardegg (1595) (Stadtbibliothek Wien, Signatur A 3302, illustrated in Kühnel 1956, p. 229 and Tafel 1) and