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

THE

ROMANTIC

FALLACY

89

the

grandeur of

Piranesi's

'

Carceri.' Piranesi's

etchingswere

multipliedrapidly

andwidelycirculated;

and the

effect of their

picturesque

power on the

imagination ofthe

eighteenth

centurywasdecisive.

Thusthe

waywasmadeready

fortheworkoflitera-

ture, and the new

poetryofNaturewhen

it came

was

reinforcedbyanexisting

fashion. Paintingand

literature were

now as one. The taste

for the

picturesque, defensible enough in those

two arts,

could not be long constrained

within their limits.

A picturesque

architecturewas required

—

^anarchi-

tectureuntrammelledbythose

restraintswhicheven

the baroque

style had hitherto observed. The

philosophyofthe Revolution favouredthis

impulse

ofthearts.

True,itwrappeditselfatfirstinaGreek

mantleandDavid contrivedaDoric

backgroundfor

its sages and tyrannicides.

But

'

natural' rights

and

acreedofanarchycouldnotforeverallythem-

selveswith themostaustere,themost

conventional

ofstyles. The philosophy

of freedom invoked for

architecture,asforlife,themagiccharmof

Nature.

Butthematerial

ofarchitecture,nolessthanthatof

politics, was unfitted to receive its impress. For,

intheseobdurateforms,varietymustprovetedious

andlicenceloseitsfascination.

Butsuchanargumentisincomplete. Picturesque

building,

itmaybereplied,in

so

far

as

it

isinsistent,