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

22

THE

ARCHITECTUREOF

HUMANISM

that

oftheChurch,

andeventhiswas

notfeltassuch!

tillafterthearthadacquireditsown

naturalmomen-

tuminthefree,secularlifeof

Florence.

Itmustberecognised,however,that

theexistence,

in the sixteenth centurypapacy,of asoil perfectly^

suited

to receivetherootsofthe

restoredartwas

in

itself

a piece of rare good fortune. The

return

to

theantique,howevertentative and, sotosay, pro-

vincial,atthe first, wasin

essenceandbyimplica-

tion

a returntothe

'

grandstyle

'

—toanimperial,

and, in the literal sense, a

'catholic

'

architecture.

Forthe assertion and

developmentofsuch astyle

the papacy

was the ideal instrument: the papacy

with its imperial

court, its boast of ancient con-

tinuities, its

claim touniversaldominion,

itspagan

inheritance,and its pomp. All

sijich qualities were

favourable to the

vigour of a partly retrospective'

enthusiasm,

fascinatedbythebroken

ruinsinwhich

ancient Rome had embodied

splendours so similar

tothese.

And thiswasnot

all. For,inproportioi|

as the

classic movement

was noempty

revival,

in

proportion asit

representeda rising

tothe surface

ofthepreferences,

stillvital

andpotent,ofanancient;

and
indigenous culture,
which claimed
a future as

confidently as it
possessed the
past, just in that

measureitrequired

afieldin

whichtorealise

itsown

creative
resources, its

own untried

originality. It

could not
have found
itself in
any rigid discipline