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

8 THE ARCHITECTURE

OF

HUMANISM

betraysthesefaultless

arguments;

for

whatever

has

once genuinely pleased is

likelyto

be again

found;

pleasing

;

art andthe

enjoymentofart

continuein

thecondemned

paths undismayed;

and

criticismis

left to discover a

sanction for them,

if it can,

in

some new theory, as simple,

as consistent,

and as

logicalasthefirst.

;

The true task ofcriticism is to

understand such

aestheticpleasuresas

haveinfactbeenfelt,andthen

todrawwhateverlawsand

conclusionsit mayfrom

that understanding. But no amount of reasoning

i

will create,

or can

annul, an aesthetic experience

;

for

theaimoftheartshasnotbeenlogic,butdelight.

Thetheoryofarchitecture,then,requireslogic

;

but

itrequires,notless,anindependentsenseofbeauty.

'

Nature, unfortunately, would seem to unite these

qualitieswith

extremereluctance.

, Obviously, there is room for confusion. The

'

conditionofdelight' in architecture—^its

value

as

anart—

mayconceivably be found to consist inits

firmness,

orinitscommodity,orinboth

;

or

itmay

consistinsomethingelse

differentfrom,yetdependent

uponthese

;

oritmaybeindependent

ofthemalto-

gether.

In any case, these

elements are, at first

sight, distinct.

Thereis no reason,

primafacie, to

supposethat

thereexists

betweenthemapre-estab-

lished

harmony, and

that in consequence

a perfect

principleofbuilding
can belaid

downwhichshould,