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

174

THE

ARCHITECTURE OF

HUMANISM

tecturalforms

givesplacetorestlessness: dignityis

puffed intodisplay.

Thesenseofgrandeurbecomes

thegreedforsize. ItistheperiodoftheBaroque:

the

periodofdecadence. Theproblemofstyleonce

solved

—Bramante's

school had solved it—^nothing

canremainbutanabuse

ofpower, andarchitecture

feelsthe strainof toomuch

liberty.

Asthearchi-

tectureof Bramantestoodlinked totheartofLeon-

ardo, so thisof the baroque shares in the

general

corruptionofthetime : a

time

when

*

godswithout

honour, men without humanity, nymphs without

innocence, satyrs without rusticity

gathered into

idiot groups on the polluted canvas and scenic

affectations encumbered the streets.' Scenic affec-

tations, broken cornices,

tripleand

quadruple

pedi-

ments, curved fagades, theatrical plans, gesticulat-

ingsculpture: everything isirrational, exaggerated,

abused. Thesearethedreamsof

a

collapsingmind

;

thisisthe violenceofasenile art: a sortofarchi-

tectural deUrium foretelling the approach of

death.

Butsenility, if

sometimes it is violent, is at other

momentsapathetic

;

andtheapproachofdissolution,

ifitisheraldedbydelirium,is

foreshadowedalsoin

coma.

Thusthe third periodofthe Renaissanceis

marked sometimes by an opposite mood

toits

ex-

travagance. The exquisite
proportions of Raphael

arehardened,

inthisdecline,intoacademicformulas

;

architecture,whenitisnot

ostentatious,becomesstiff.