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

THE MECHANICAL

FALLACY iii

what was the alternative.
Greek architecture was

simply templearchitecture. Here, architecturalart

wasdealingwithautilitarian
problemsosimplethat

nogreatinconveniencewasencounteredinadjusting

itsnecessaryforms

toitsdesired aestheticcharacter.

Norwasthereanyincongruitybetweentheaesthetic

and practical requirements of a Gothic cathedral.

But the moment mediaeval building, of which the

scientific criticism thinks so highly, attempted to

enlarge

itsscope,itwascompelled

tosacrificegeneral

design to practical convenience, and was thereby

usuallyprecludedfromsecuringanyaestheticquality

butthepicturesque.

Andeven

soit achievedonly

a

very moderate amount of practical convenience.

Nowthe

Renaissancearchitecture

hadtosupplythe

utilitarian needs of a still more varied and more

fastidious life.

Had it remained

tied to the ideal

of so-called constructive sincerity, which means no

morethananarbitrary

insistence

thatthestructural

and artistic necessities of architecture should be

satisfiedby

oneandthesameexpedient,itssearchfor

structuralbeautywouldhavebeenhamperedatevery

turn.

And,sincethisdilemmawasobvioustoevery

one, noone was offended by the means taken to

overcomeit.

Andnot

only

was

thepracticalrange

of

architec-

turethusextendedwithoutlosstoitsaestheticscope,

but that scope itself was vastly

enlarged. In

the