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

HUMANIST

VALUES

241

stnictedaworldasmandesires

it,responsivetohis

instinctand

hisstature.

Buthumanismhasits practical

aspectaswellas

itsideal

;

and

thevalueswhich the Greekdefined

andfounded,Romemaintained,extendedand

trans-

ferred. Romanarchitecture,

lessfastidiousthanthe

Greekandlessrestricted,preservedtheprinciplesof

mass,

space, line, and coherence for rougher uses,

widerand more general. Itensuredtheirsurvival,

their independence

of the place and timewhence

theyhadsprung.

Thearchitecture which thusrose withhumanism

was with humanism eclipsed and with

humanism

restored. To pass from Roman architecture and

thatof

theRenaissancetothe

fantasticandbewildered

energy of Gothic, is toleave humanism for

magic,

thestudyofthecongruousforthe

cultofthestrange.

Itistofindthatthelogicofaninhumansciencehas

displaced the logic

of the human form. It is to

discover resplendent beauty of

detail, in glass and

bronzeandivory

andgold

;

itistolosearchitecture

insculpture. Thelinesofthis

amazed construction

areat one

momentcongruous with our

movement,

at thenext theycontradict it

with

a

cramped and

J

(angularconfusion.

Here spaceandcoherence

come,

ifat all,unsoughtandunregarded;

andwhenthey

comeitismostoftenbecause

theritualofthe

Church,

preservingsomethingofthe

paganorderitinherits,

Q