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

HUMANISTVALUES

221

actual

reproduction

oftheproportion

andsymmetries

ofthebody,withresultsthat
werenecessarilysome-

times trivial and childish.

Vasari was nearer the

truth when he said in praise

of a building that it

seemed

'

not built,

but born

'

—

non murato ma

veramente waio./Architecture, to communicate

the

vital

values of

the spirit, must appear organic like

thebody\AndagreatercriticthanVasari/Michael

Angelo\himself,touchedon

atruthmoreprofound,it

may be,than he realised, when h^wroteofarchi-

tecture:

'

Hethathath not mastered,ordoth not

master

the

humanfigure,

andinespecialitsanatomy,

maynevercomprehendit.\

III

But, how far, it is natural to ask, can such an

explanationbecarried

? Grantingitstruth,canwe

establishits sufficiency? Our pleasure inarchitec-

.tural

form seemsmanifold. Canonesuchprinciple

explainit? Afullanswertothisquestion

isperhaps

onlytobe

earnedinthe longprocessof

experiment

and verification which

the actual practiceof archi-

tecture

entails. HowminutelyHumanism

canenter

intothedetailof

architecture,howsingularlyitmay

govern its maindesign,

could not, in anycase, be

demonstrated

withoutamassof

instancesandafree

use ofillustration. A

study of these, drawn from

Renaissance

architecture, must form the

matter of