THE ACADEMIC
TRADITION
189
spirit a devout obedience
tothe antique; in result,
itproducedastyleofrare
originality. The
'
seeker
forburiedtreasure,'astheRomanscalledhim,seeing
himdayafter daybent
eagerlyamong their ruins,
returned
toFlorence toinstitutean architectureall
grace and lightness andcharm
;
slight in
the pro-
jection of its mouldings, slight
in the body of its
shafts,andwreathedwithslenderornament: astyle
notrigidoroftoostrictarule,seldommassive,and
then more after the Etruscan manner than the
Roman, and for the mostpart not massive at all,
butlightlypencilled uponspace. Yettoadoptthe
ancient style had been Brunelleschi's purpose, and
- tohaverestoreditremainedhisboast. Later,atthe
height of itsself-conscious power, and when, more
thanat any
period,
artists of original genius were
concentratedinthecapital,theRenaissanceissatis-
fied, in architecture, with a merely reproductive
effort. ThelittlechurchofSanPietro
in
Montorio,
alreadycited—saveinafewdetails,apagantemple
merely—^is a
work
ofBramante at his prime. His
projectevenforSt. Peter'sisconceivedintermsof
ancientbuildings: itistoraisethe[Parthenon]upon
the
arches of the
Roman Thermae. On the other
hand it is the great reaction when the neo-pagan
culture is universally
abused, and the academic
'
rules' forgotten, thatthe image
of imperial Rome
comes, in Christian
architecture, most amazingly
