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

238

THE

ARCHITECTURE

OF HUMANISM

the memory or

imagination of

things not actually

seen. Thus,

Orderin Nature

bearsno

relation

to

our actof vision.

It is not

humanised. It exists,

butit

continually eludesus.

This

Order, whichin

Nature

is hidden and

implicit, architecture

makes

patent to the

eye. It supplies the

perfect corre-

spondencebetween

theact ofvision and

the act

of

comprehension. Hence

results/thelawofcoherence

inarchitecture; what

issimultaneouslyseenmustbe

simultaneously understood.

Theeye and themind

musttravel

together

;

thoughtand vision

move

at

one pace and in step\Any

breach in continuity,

whetherof

mood orscale, breaksin uponthiseasy

unisonandthrowsus

backfromthehumanisedworld

tothe

chaotic. Thevalues ofmass,space,andline

are as infiniteas the

moodsof the spirit,but they

arenot tobesimultaneously achieved,fortheyare

mutually

conflicting. Style,through coherence,sub-

ordinates beauty to

the pattern of the

mind,

and

soselectswhatitpresents that all,atonesoleactof

thought,is

foundintelligible,andeverypart

re-echoes,

explains,andreinforcesthebeautyofthewhole.

VII

Sucharethe fourlawsofbuildingfrom

which,it

willbe found,thegreatestarchitects ofthe Renais-

sance, however various their impulse

and achieve-

ment,didnotdeviate. Theirsisan

architecturewhich