Seite - 505 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

505The Neugebäude Even Giulio’s Loggia di Davide, though it doubtless inspired the design of Neugebäude gallery, is sufficiently different not to consider it as an exact model. The Loggia di Davide is still basically a variation on the serliana: Giulio contracted the width of the bays flanking the three central arches to create a strong contrast with the more regular proportions of the screen-like series of serliane articulating the facade on either side [Fig. 9.103]. But there re- mains some space in between the columns, and their capitals do not touch, whereas in the Neugebäude the columns were set as close together as possible [Fig. 9.104]. In Mantua, moreover, the sets of coupled columns are doubled: each deep arch is carried by a set of four columns placed in a square, and these sets should be read as replacing the piers supporting an arcade in a more traditional build- ing, giving a quite solid and sculptural quality to the loggia, whereas in Vienna the sets of coupled columns are single, and provide what is basically an elon- gated screen, the lightness of which is emphasized by each pair being placed on separate pedestals, which are interconnected by balustrades. This effect is strengthened by the full entablatures topping the coupled columns, instead of the abbreviated entablature, lacking its frieze, used by Giulio. The Schönbrunn Gloriette, incorporating the columns and entablatures of the Neugebäude gal- leries, also imitates this aspect, and gives at least some idea of the effect. All in all, the Neugebäude’s main building, consisting of a gallery of cou- pled columns carrying arches set upon a huge, closed socle zone, is an origi- nal concept for which no clear-cut precedent can be cited. As we have seen, the documents do not give any indication of the designer responsible, but the use of coupled columns strongly suggests that Jacopo Strada had a hand in it. Coupled pilasters and columns are a signature feature of the two buildings he certainly designed. In his own house the upper levels of the facades are articu- lated by flat coupled pilasters [Figs. 7.11–7.13]. In the Munich Antiquarium the Figures 9.101–9.102 The loggia and gallery of the Château de Verneuil, and the facade of the Château de Saint-Maur, from Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, Les Plus excellents bastiments de France, 1576–79.