The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

THE ROMANTIC FALLACY

87

gances

of design were neither unconsidered nor

inconsistent. Itintellectualisedthe

picturesgue.j

Thatthebaroquestyleshould besupremein the

gardenandinthetheatre-—the

two

provinceswhich

permitdesignitsgreatestliberty

—

wastobeexpected.

ThefountainsandcaryatidesofCaprarola,thestage

conceptionsof BibbienaandAndrea Pozzo, areun-

surpassed. But the

baroque could satisfy no less

theconditionsofamonumentalandapermanentart.

Thecolonnade ofSt. Peter's, Bernini's St. Andrea,

the Salute at

Venice, thefront of the Lateran, are

'

exciting

'

architecture: theystartlethe attention

;

they

havethevivid,pictorialuseoflightandshade

;

thestimulusoftheireffectis

sharp. Inallthisthey

achieve

theimmediatemeritofthepicturesque.

Yet

their last and permanent

impression is,of abroad

serenity

;

fortheyhavethat

baroqueassurancewhich

even baroque

convulsion cannot-rob of its repose.

They are fit for

permanence; forthey have that

massive finality of thought

which, when we live

besidethem,we

donotquestion,butaccept.

Here,then,inthe

paintingandarchitecture

ofthe

Renaissance,isan

exampleofthefiteniployment

of

the

picturesque. But

these restrictions were not

..'destinedtoberespected.

wThecultofNature,

byits

necessary

hostilityto

convention,modifiedthe

treat-

ment of the

picturesque and destroyed

in it those