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

i8o THEARCHITECTURE

OF HUMANISM

We do not seekto

argue it

mferior

tothat

which

followedorpreceded: strictly, itisnotcomparable

with either, and allthree have their beauty.
But

evenifitbepreferred abovethem,

the

illuminating

fact remains: the weaknessthat wasin it is
the

weakness ofa

'

declining,' atoo segregated

art; a

weakness which, if it did not thus impertinently

intrude into the summer of the Renaissance, our

historians

would havesignalised as the chill

ofits

approachingwinter.

But, for architecture at least, winter was not

approaching—

rather, a scorching and resplendent

heat. If the

evolutionary sequence describes

too

littleaccuratelythe

'

climax' and the

'

birth,* itis

forcedtouttertravestyforthe

'

decline.* Ifdecad-

encemeansanythingatall,itstandsforlossofpower,

lossofself-confidence,lossofgrip. Itisafailureof

theimaginationtoconceive,oftheenergytocomplete,

profound experiments—awastingaway ofinherited

capitalnolongerputtointerest. Thebaroquestyle

istheantithesisofallthesethings. Whateverfaults

itmay

have,thesearenotthey. Intellectinarchi-

tecture has never been more active

;

the baroque

architects rehandled their problem from its base.

WheretheBrunelleschianarchitecture and the

Bra-

mantesque were static, this was dynamic

;

where

those attempted to distribute

perfect

balance, this

sought for concentrated movement. The expecta-