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

io8 THEARCHITECTURE

OF HUMANISM

pilasters of many

Renaissance buildings

may

be

agreeable enough as patterns

of form, but are no

longeremployedfortheparticular

structuralpurpose

forwhichapparentlytheyare intended,

and

so, in

diminishing the intelligibility

and vividness of the

wholestructure,diminishatthesame

timeitsbeauty.

Thus,theonegroupfailsbecause,thoughfunctional,

itisnotvivid

;

theotherbecause,

thoughvivid,itis

notfunctional.

'^

Such,orsomewhatsuch,wouldbethestatementof

a

'

scientific

'viewofthe

relationofconstruction

to

architectural design, as we should have it when

divestedofits moreobviously untenableassertions

and

stated

in

extenso. In the modem criticismof

architecture, we are habitually asked to take this

view for granted, and the \intenable assertions as

well

;

and

thisisacceptedwithoutdiscussion,purely

owingtothemechanicalpreconceptionsofthetime,

whichmakeallcriticisms

onthe

scoreof'structure

'

seem

peculiarlyconvincing. Suchaview,even

in

the

modifiedforminwhich

wehavestatedit,

setsupan

ideal

ofarchitecturetowhichindeedtheGreekand

mediaeval

builders, onthewhole, conformed,butto

whichthe Romansconformed

veryimperfectly,

and

towhichthe Renaissance,

inmostofitsphases,

did

notconformatall. Itcutsusoflf,asitseems,inevit-

ably,from

any

sympathy

withthelatterstyle.

Be-

fore

acceptingthisunfortunateconclusion,letussee