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

no THEARCHITECTURE OF HUMANISM

the building is of a wholly disparate kind: why,

then,must theyalwaysbeachieved byanidentical

expedient? No

doubtwhenthiscan bedone,

itis

the simplestand moststraightforwardwayofsecur-

inggood architectural design. No doubtwhen

we

realisethatthishasbeen

done,

there

may

beacertain

intellectualpleasureinthecoincidence. Buteven

the

Greeks, towhom we are always referred,

werefar

from achieving this coincidence. When they

took

the primitive Doric construction,andraised

ittoa

perfect aesthetic form, the countless

adjustments

whichtheymadewereallcalculatedforoptical

eflfect.

They may nothave entailed consequences

contrary

to structural requirements, but atleast the optical

effectandthestructural requirementsweredistinct.

The Renaissance grasped this distinction

between

the several

elements

of architectural design with

extreme clearness. It realised that,

for

certain pur-

poses

in

architecture,

fact

counted

foreverything, and

that in certain others, appearance counted

for

every-

thing.

Andittookadvantage

of

thisdistinction

tothe

full. It

didnotinsistthatthe

necessaryfactshould

itself produce the necessary appearance.

It con-

sideredthe

questions

separately,andwascontentto

securethembyseparatemeans. Itnolongerhadto

dance in

fetters. It produced

architecture

which

looked vigorous

and

stable, and it took adequate

measures to

seethatitactually was

so.

|

Letus

see