Liviovské historie a ovidiovské poesie v pozdně renesanční výzdobě rožmberské vily Kratochvíle
Livy’s Historiae and Ovid’s Poesiae in Late Renaissance Decoration of Rosenberg Villa Kratochvíle

Summary/Abstract: The Rosenberg hunting villa Kratochvíle near Netolice was originated after 1582/1583 for the most significant representative of the Czech estates, the High Burgrave William of Rosenberg. The author of a project was Baldassar Maggi of Arogno, the area situated on Italian-Swiss borders, in the region of Ticino. The finishing of painted (Georg Widman of Brunšvik) and stucco (Antonio da Melano, a locality near Arogno) decorations took place before and around the year 1590. Kratochvíle started to breathe new life in this period which was most likely connected with another marriage of William with Polyxena of Pernstein in 1587; it meant the last chance for the ageing man to secure the family succession. I purposely emphasize this motif because it looks that a structure of decorations predominantly refers to the personality of the wife and her fertility, for who Kratochvíle maybe “read” not only as a hunting villa but also as a distinctive “nuptial architecture”. Nevertheless, Kratochvíle itself as an occasional country residence arises many a question, how to define it from the point of view of the architectural typology. In terms of the Central European area, its form is probably the closest to Neugebäude of Maximilian II and Rudolf II near Vienna; from the point of view of building operations, it varies somewhere between a concept of a “utilitarian” hunting villa, a building in a spirit of architectura recreationis or maison de plaisance, and a representative occasional mansion. The structure of Kratochvíle decorations is characteristically divided in two areas; on the ground floor, opened into a surrounding garden, a gamepreserve and a canal around a villa, there may be found hunting, animal, natural as well as mythological scenes. They show for instance pastoral deities (Autumnus, Cyparisse and Vertumnus) and draw from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Jupiter gallating Io, Pan and Syrinx, the birth of Adonis, Apollo and Daphne, a scene from Silver age and Apollo killing Python). On the contrary, the decoration of the first floor represents the artistically and thematically different world. It is dominated by “antiquitetischen Historien”, mentioned by a draft of the painter Georg Widman from the year 1589, which draw inspiration from biblical stories (the history of Samson) and especially from Ab urbe condita by Titus Livy. A number of scenes and a technique of white stucco all’antica is completely exceptional also in the broader Central European context. The motivation for selecting Livy’s stories correspondedto a reception of this author in early modern period, respectively since the 14th century. Livy’s idealized idea of the history of Ancient Rome was based on the presentation of moral exempli virtutis and also deterrent examples of human vices and frailties. Precisely this layer of meaning prevails in Kratochvíle, where it is related to the constructed identity of William of Rosenberg such as an ideal and good ruler. However, this concept of “Rosenberg ethics” interferes in apartments of his wife Polyxena, who is confronted with this world of patriarchal authority and moreover, she received another visual impulses there. They were related like in a figure of Lucrecia to patterns of norms oflife, which she ought to follow, but also content a range of motifs connected with the power of nature and the idea of fertility. It appears in the whole Ovid poetic and natural character of the villa and predominantly its downstairs decoration. Such a marriage symbolism may reflect the thorniest problemof Rosenbergs family at that times – a still missing heir, who would continue the lineage. Polyxena represents the last chance for the ageing William of Rosenberg so that it is possible that the whole project of the villa Kratochvíle and its decoration in a hunting-natural style also mirrors a role of a married couple residence connected with the essential aspect of fertility and fecundity of nature.

• Details
• Contents