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

THE

ETHICALFALLACY

157

Last, there

was monumental architecture.

The

resourceslearntinthe theatremust
herebesubject

torestraint.

Herewemustholdsecureoursenseof

permanenceandstrength. No

falsities,noillusions,

canhere
be tolerated that, when the eye discovers

them, will lower our confidence in these qualities.

Butdeceptionswhichpassunnoticed,
andthosewhich

havenoreferencetostabilityandmass

—

deceptions

of which the psychologic effect is
negligible

—

^may

even

here

beadmitted. The Parthenondeceivesus

in ahundred ways, with its curved pediment and

stylobate,itsinclinedand thickenedcolumns. Yet

thesenseofstabilitywhichitgainsfromthesedevices

survivesourdiscoveryofthefactsofitsconstruction.

TheItalianmasteryofopticswaslesssubtlethanthe

Greek, butit was putto wideruses. Perhaps the

most familiarinstance of itsemployment is in the

gallerieswhichconnectSt.

Peter'swiththecolonnade

of Bernini. Here thesupposedly parallel lines

con-

verge
on plan

andlengthen the perspective. This,

indeed, is by no means a remarkably successful

expedient, since what is gained for the eastward

perspective is lost in that

towards the west. But

there
is noloss

ofmonumentality. Theimportant

point, realised by the

architects of this period, is

that,
even

inmonumentalarchitecture,

thequestion

of

*

deceit' is one rather

ofdegree than principle,

ratherof

experiment thanlaw. A

designthatisin