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

THE

ETHICAL FALLACY

129

primarily with art.
It was, in effect,
a Puritan

revival. The intellectual

alternative was strict:

eitheratruculentmaterialism
(withconsequencesfor

architecturealreadyanalysed)oramoralistic

ardour

moreseverethananythat

hadbeendominantsince

theseventeenth

century.

Hereweretwosinisterantagonists. The

amiable

provincesofart,

whichlayforgottenandunguarded

attheirside,soontrembledwiththeconflict. Archi-

tecture

became

a

rallying

point; forwhilethecon-

structive

basis

of

the

artexposeditobviouslytothe

scientific attack, its ecclesiastical tradition

invited

for it, no

less, a religious defence.

In this region,

wheretheairwasdensewithancientsentiment, the

morallossessufferedinthe territoryof

metaphysics

might,

evenbyashakenarmy,

bemadegood. Itwas

a Puritan revival,butwith thisdifference: the fer-

vourofPuritanismwasnowactiveinvindicating

the

value

ofart. Itinsistedthatarchitecture

wassome-

thing more than a

mechanical

problem. It gave

it

a human reference. But, unluckily,this

Puritan

attack,far

fromclearingthepathofcriticism,

didbut

encumberitwith freshidols,equallyvainiflessin-

human

than the categories of science.

Art was

remembered,but

thestandardsofart

remainedfor-

gotten.

The old Puritanism of the

seventeenth

centuryhad

weighedtheinfluenceonlife

ofartasa

whole.

Ithad

condemneditand

drivenitforthfrom

I