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

HUMANIST

VALUES

243

longer content
to rest for everin
the restraint of
1

classic equipoise and
calm. It has learned the!

speech

of

architecture fromGreece and Rome,

but

the Renaissance itself will
choosewhat thingsthat

speech shall say. Every value, every avenue of

promise, itwill explore,enjoy,
express. Hencethe

insatiate

curiosity,

thehaste, the shortduration of

its.styles
;

hencetheconversion ofclassicforms

to

thegayusesofbaroqueandrococo

invention

;

hence

thepliancyandswiftrecoveriesoftaste,ofwhichour

first

chapter

tookaccount. But

notthelessdoesthe

Renaissance

employthe

languageofHumanism

;

and

henceitsunseveredtieswithclassic

architecture,its

reliance onthe

'

Orders,'its perpetualstudyofthe

past. Still, as in antiquity, it speaks by mass,

space,Une,coherence;as in antiquity,it stillbuilds

through these a congruous setting to our life. It

makes

them

echotothebody's

music—^itsforceand

movement and repose. And the mind that is re-

sponsive to

that harmony,

it

leads enchantingly

amongthemeasuresofadanceinstone.