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

THE

ACADEMIC TRADITION

193

substancetoworkupon,aformtoalterorpreserve,

a base upon which, when inspiration

flags, it may

retire. Solongasarchitecturalartwascloselylinked

to utility and toconstruction, these ofthemselves

providedthepermanentelementit

required. Greek

architecturehadonthewholeobservedthelogicof

the temple, Gothic the logic of the vault. The

restrictions which these constructive principles im-

posed,theformswhichtheyhelped tosuggest,were

sufficientfordesign. Butwhenarchitecture,

inthe

Renaissance,baseditselfon anexperimentalscience

oftaste,

andrefusedallextraneoussanctions, itfelt

for the first time the

embarrassment of liberty.

Baroque art,assoon asthe creativeenergydeserts

it,hasnothingto

fallbackupon. It thenbecomes

(as its failures prove) an unmeaning

and aimless

force,

'

bombinansinvacuo.'

Architecture,therefore,

havingdeniedtheabsolute

authority ofuse and construction to

determine its

design,wasledto

createanewauthority

indesign

itself. And since Humanism,

with its worship of

power,hadexalted

Rometoanideal,it

wasnaturally

in Roman design that

this authority was

sought.

Roman buildings had to provide

not merely

an

inspiration,butarule.

Thusthemereaesthetic

necessitiesof

thecasewere

sufficient tolead

thetentative

classicismofBrvmel-

leschi

towardsthe

stricter

mannerof

Bramante,

and

N