Bernardo Buontalenti

When the Habsburg dynasty came to the Czech throne in 1526 and then ruled the lands of the Czech Crown for almost four centuries, its first member, Ferdinand I, entered a splendid royal palace in Prague, standing in the centre of the extensive area of Prague Castle. Less than a century later, however, the situation there was completely different. The Czech King and Roman Emperor Rudolf II resided on the very edge of Prague Castle, in a topographically unsuitable place, and the Old Royal Palace was left to the Czech Royal and professional offices and traders. Even though this was a radical change and one of the most important events in the history of Prague Castle, the questions of why, when and how this great transfer of residence took place, fundamental to the understanding of this central location of the Czech State, have not yet been asked. The most important action was the relocation of the vice-regent of the government of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol around 1555 to a small palace by the White Tower. The Habsburg architects Hans Tirol and Bonifaz Wohlmut unsuccessfully proposed linking the small palace with the Old Royal Palace by means of a new wing and thus building a worthy residence with a sufficient number of rooms. After ascending to the throne in 1576 the Emperor Rudolf II returned to this idea and had two Florentine architects (Antonio Lupicini in 1579 and Giovanni Gargiolli in 1586) carry out the new proposal, which was consulted in Florence with Francesco I de’Medici and in the second case also adjusted by Bernardo Buontalenti. In the end, however, Rudolf selected a different strategy and concentrated only on extending the palace by the White Tower to the areas of the former ditches, where he built wings containing areas for his collections. It was Rudolf II, then, who moved the Royal and Imperial Residence in Prague Castle to a new location, quite apart from the historical centre of the Castle.

The present article reconstructs the visit of the Florentine architect Antonio Lupicini to the Habsburg courts of Vienna and Prague from 1578 to 1580. Dispatched by Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici to serve Emperor Rudolf II, the architect’s imperial sojourn offers new insights into Rudolf’s earliest construction projects and pays testament to some of the first diplomatic gifts (including two books of watercolours by Jacopo Ligozzi) the Emperor received for his Kunstkammer collection. It also traces the earliest encounters between Francesco and the Habsburg Emperor, starting with their first meeting in 1563. This encounter was followed by a gift of Rudolf's portrait by Alonso Sanchez Coello, which is still extant in Florence today. 

Winner of the Royal Studies Journal Annual Essay Prize 2023

La  produzione della porcellana Medici voluta dal granduca Francesco I segna una tappa nella storia dei rapporti, sia reali sia immaginativi, tra Italia e Cina.
Il particolare contesto mecenatistico  del secondo Cinquecento fiorentino tra Cosimo I e Francesco I, anche grazie all'influenza del gusto internazionale della duchessa Elenora di Toledo, ha fatto scaturire un'invenzione originale, non una mera imitazione.
La contraffazione delle porcellane Ming si innalzò in capolavori del tutto fiorentini, la cui marca insisteva a celebrare il genio nazionale.
Ed ecco la cupola di Filippo Brunelleschi accostata a una F. a marcare oggetti spesso pensati come prestigiosi regali per i sovrani europei quali Filippo II d'Asburgo.

Intervento tenuto al Simposio ‘Disegno e modello di architettura’, organizzato da Howard Burns presso la Scuola Normale Superiore. Pisa, Palazzo della Carovana, 10 – 12 maggio 2012 (11 maggio). Invitato dal Prof. Howard Burns (Scuola Normale Superiore)
https://www.sns.it/it/evento/disegno-modello-architettura