Page - 519 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

519Other Patrons of Architecture presence on the narrow northwest facade of strongly accentuated balustrades between heavy stringcourses, all in stone, which is all that remains after the loggias were closed and filled with windows.5 Since the first adaptations of the Zeughaus were commissioned by Maximil- ian ii, it is possible that Strada may have been consulted on these, as he had been for other Imperial projects; but it is not known whether a unified new construction was envisaged already at that date. Possibly Strada’s approach of Archduke Ernest in 1579, offering himself as a designer of palaces and gardens, may have been triggered by a rumour of plans for the construction of a Vi- enna residence of the Archduke, and initially he may have been involved in some consultative capacity. But the generic resemblance to the Stallburg pro- vides too little basis for either a positive or a negative conclusion as to Strada’s participation in its earliest designs. Moreover, the documents presented by Dr Holzschuh-Hofer make clear that the construction was supervised by Pietro Ferrabosco, who by this time surely may be assumed to have been capable of coming up with a competent design on his own account. So a direct involve- ment of Strada appears rather unlikely, though as elsewhere his influence and that of the graphic documentation of architecture he made available to his patrons and colleagues is unmistakable. That is even true, though at one remove, for the present, more richly ar- ticulated facade of the Amalienburg, which was commissioned by Rudolf ii in 1604. It was constructed somewhat in front of the original facade (as is clear from the position of the clock tower) and extended on the right with two addi- tional bays; it continued around the corner and along the north façade, where it is still preserved in its original colour scheme.6 Its articulation, best seen in Samuel van Hoogstraten’s painting of 1652 [Fig. 10.5], demonstrates a profound awareness of the architecture of Raphael and Giulio Romano. The style of this, for Germany, very unusual facade is reflected in the manor house at Dürnstein [Fig. 10.6], which is dated 1630, and is an equally sophisticated example of the careful reception of the architecture of the Roman High Renaissance, in par- ticular of Raphael’s Villa Madama. By this time such reception need no longer be derived from Strada’s presence: both Dürnstein (sometimes attributed to Cipriano Biasino, 1580–1636) and the Amalienburg facade were designed by architects who probably knew Italian architecture—including that of Sanmi- cheli, Palladio and Scamozzi—at first hand. Yet Strada’s presence prepared the way for the acceptance of this intellectually demanding style among at least a few of the patrons of architecture in Austria, as will be shown below. 5 Illustrated and reconstructed in Holzschuh-Hofer 2014 (d), Abb. iv.180–181. 6 Ibid., p. 345, Abb. iv.183.