Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

V.
Fig. 1: The palace and the cour
d’honneur from the east (Photo:
RPS, LDA, Hausner).
114
V. Science and Technology
b)
The Urban Prospect of the Old
Palace as a Retrospective
Monument to Dynastic Authority
So far, unlike the celebrated park, the nucleus
around which the ensemble crystallizes
has not received much attention. Given the
quality leap from the rendered baroque to the
significant park architecture, that is easy to
understand, but one wonders why this should
be the case for the – literally – outstanding
urban prospect that is the “Corps de logis”. 1
One need look no further than the façade
to discover, on closer inspection, a lengthy
structural history. It may prove to be not
so much valuable architecture in terms
of art history, as a style mix reflecting the
imponderables and contingencies of the
financial strain that haunted its turbulent past.
Adolf Zeller regarded such conglomerates as
“hideous surrogate architecture”, and Georg
Dehio testified to their “gloomy character”. 2
1 The text therefore concentrates on the display front of the
Schwetzingen “Corps de logis”, i.e. the side that faced the town.
Its complex composition and design promise more far-reaching
conclusions about its construction history and iconographic
intentions than the homogenous baroque side facing the park.
2 Adolf Zeller: Das Heidelberger Schloß. Werden, Zerfall
und Zukunft. Karlsruhe 1905; Georg Dehio: Handbuch der
deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, BD. IV Südwestdeutschland. Berlin
1911.
That is presumably one reason why the few
more probing descriptions there have been of
the structural history of Schwetzingen’s palace
have confined themselves to distinguishing
between its phases of construction, 3 without
exploring the possibility of independent
architectural qualities or conscious
motivations behind the design. It does not,
however, seem very plausible that the central
vanishing point of a palace whose primary
function was ultimately to serve as a summer
residence for one of the greatest dynasties
of the old German Empire would have no
aesthetic qualities of note whatsoever. Surely
the impracticability of meeting customary
standards of official hospitality – the corps
de logis had neither a grand stairway and
prestigious apartment suite, nor splendid
ballrooms – would have cried out for a
replacement? Was the “old crate” really
kept on, as the park and town were lavishly
developed under Elector Carl Theodor, simply
on pragmatic grounds such as meagre funds
or shifting priorities? A priori, of course,
there is no objection to turning the question
on its head. Might the maintenance of this
idiosyncratic architecture have been inspired
by other paradigms of perception or deliberate
conservation strategies at the time 4 and hence
have their own claim to be an appropriate
factor in a new context?
3 First Heinrich Gropp: Das Schwetzinger Schloß zu Anfang des
18. Jahrhunderts. Dissertation TH Karlsruhe. Leipzig 1930;
Kurt Martin (compil.): Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks
Mannheim, Stadt Schwetzingen. Die Kunstdenkmäler Badens
10, 2. Abt. Karlsruhe 1933.
4 Klaus Graf: Stil als Erinnerung, in: Norbert Nussbaum, Claudia
Euskirchen, Stephan Hoppe (eds.): Wege zur Renaissance.
Beobachtungen zu den Anfängen neuzeitlicher Kunstauffassung
im Rheinland und den Nachbargebieten um 1500. Köln
2003, pp. 19-29; Klaus Graf: Retrospektive Tendenzen in der
bildenden Kunst (vornehmlich des 14.-16. Jahrhunderts) Auswahlbibliografie,
2002; recently for art history Matthias Müller:
Das Schloss als Bild des Fürsten. Herrschaftliche Metaphorik
in der Residenzenarchitektur des Alten Reichs. Göttingen
2003; cf. also Michael Schmidt: Reverentia und Magnificentia.
Historizität in der Architektur Süddeutschlands, Österreichs
und Böhmens vom 14. bis 17. Jahrhundert. Regensburg 1999;
Stefan Hoppe: Die Architektur des Heidelberger Schlosses in
der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts. Neue Datierungen und
Interpretationen, in: Schloss Heidelberg und die Pfalzgrafschaft
bei Rhein bis zur Reformationszeit. Dauerausstellung der
Staatl. Schlösser und Gärten Bad.-Württ., Ed.: Volker Rödel. Regensburg
2002, pp. 183-189; Stefan Hoppe: Wie wird die Burg
zum Schloss? Architektonische Innovation um 1470, in: Heiko
Laß (ed.): Von der Burg zum Schloss. Landesherrlicher und
adeliger Profanbau in Thüringen im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert.
Bucha b. Jena 2001, pp. 95-116.