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

RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE 19

fifteenth

totheeighteenth century, correspondedto

noracialmovements

; theywereunaccompaniedby

socialchangesequallysudden, orequallycomplete

;

they were undictated, for

the

most

part, by any

exterior necessity

; they were unheralded by any

newor subversivediscoverywhether in thescience

ofconstructionor inthe materials

atits

command.

Allthese,andothersuchconditions,did indeedcon-

tributetothe

architecturalresult. Sometimesthey

settheirlimitstowhatwasaccomplished,sometimes

they provided its opportunity. But none of them

separately, nor all in conjunction,

will sufficiently

explain the essential character of the whole move-

ment,orofeachsuccessivestep,noraffordanyclue

tothesequenceofitsstages. They

areliketheacci-

dentsofalandscapewhichmightshapethecourse

of

a

wanderingstream. But the

architectureofItaly

isariverintheflood. Race,politics^the

changesof

society, geological facts, mechanical laws, do

not

exhaust the factors of the

case. Taste—tiie dis-

interestedenthusiasmforarchitectural

form—^issome-

thingwhichthesecannotgiveanddonot

necessarily

control. Nevertheless it is by

reference to

these

external factorsthat the

architectural forms ofthe

Renaissanceare

persistentlyexplained.

Letusseehowfarsuch

explanationscancarry

us,,

It isprobably true

that a

'

Renaissance'

ofarchi-

tecture
in Italy

was, on racial

grounds, inevitable.