Page - 540 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

Chapter 10540 building blocks so substantial that they draw attention away from the centre of the building. It is not surprising that at Schwarzenau, where the pavilions are separated by a more extended front facade than in Serlio’s designs, it was felt necessary to accentuate its centre with a bell tower on the roof. The composition of the entrance facade at Schwarzenau also appears to re- flect Serlian example. Though less markedly rhythmical, the placement of the windows accentuates the centre in a rather similar way as in Serlio’s facade for a ‘casa del principe tiranno’ in the Sesto Libro [Figs. 10.44 and 10.45]. And its central bay seems a rather close variation on Serlio’s eighth proposal for the re- furbishment of an old town house in his Settimo Libro, down to the placement of the niches on either side of the Serliana (which at Schwarzenau is reduced to a minimal tripartite window) and the sparse detailing of the entrance portal [Figs. 10.46 and 10.47].40 Apart from Serlio, Schwarzenau owes some of the elements of its design to Mantua, to the spare, well-proportioned architecture in modelled brick cov- ered in stucco as it was developed by Giulio Romano and continued by his 40 It is not quite clear whether the four niches with statues of female personifications date from a later, Neoclassical refurbishment in the early nineteenth century; neither Vischer’s image of the castle nor that in an eighteenth century painted wall-hanging discussed and illustrated in Donin 1963, pp. 73–75, are sufficiently clear to determine whether the niches were already there. But the Serlio example indicates that it is perfectly plausible that they were. Physical investigation of the niches themselves and of the four statues (are these the originals?) might contribute to an answer to this problem. Figures 10.48–10.49 Schwarzenau: the southwest pavilion and a detail of its rustic story.