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

RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE 21

Alphonso in

the South, in the North the Sforzas

—

these,andotherslikethem,

werecertainlyinfluential

patrons.

Butitwouldbedifficultto

maintainthat

they left a deep imprint

of themselves, or their

government, upon

the character of the art. Gis-

mondo

MalatestajtyrantofRimini,

theroughsoldier

whocausedaGothicchurch

tobeconvertedintothe

equivalentofapagantemplededicatedtohismistress,

and flanked it with the

entombed bones of Greek

philosophers

andgrammarians, maywellimpressus

with his individuality

;

but, as

between him

and

Alberti,hisarchitect,himself

ofnoblefamilyandone

ofthe

greatesthumanistsofhistime, therecan be

little doubt where the paramount imagination

lay.

yheinfluence

ofpatronagepnartiseasilymis-stated.

Artmaybebroughttotheserviceofthestateandits

rulers

;

but the most

that rulers can do

towards

determining

theessenceofanartistoimposeuponit

adistinctively courtlycharacter, andthecoherency

which comes ofastrongly centralised

organisation.

We should, for instance, misconstrue the

inmost

natureofAugustanart,oroftheartofLouisxiv.,if

we were

toignore thisfactor.

Butnothingsimilar

is true of the Renaissance city-state.

Here the

conditions

were

merelysuch astogivefreeplay

to

an
architecture

which, intrinsically,in its

character

asanart, remainedindependentof

them. Thesole

centralisinginfluence, inanyimaginative

sense,was