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

INTRODUCTION

9

infullmeasure,satisfy

themall. And,

intheabsence

ofsuch

aprinciple,itisquitearbitraryto

pronounce

dogmatically on the concessions which art should

make

to

science

orutility. Unlessitcanbeproved

that theseapparentlydifferentvalues arein reality

commensurable, there ought to be three separate

schemesofcriticism: thefirstbasedonconstruction,

the second on convenience, the third on aesthetics.

Each could be rational, complete, and, within its

own province, valid.

Thus by degrees

might

be

obtained what at present is certainly lacking

—

^the

data foratheory ofarchitecture which should not

becontradicted

at

once

bythehistoryoftaste.

Thepresentstudyseekstoexplainonechapterof

that history. It deals with a

limited period

of

architecture,fromasinglepointofview.

Theperiodisonewhichpresentsacertainobvious

unity. Itextendsfromtherevivalof

classicalforms

atthehandsofBrunelleschi,inthefifteenth

century,

to

theriseoftheGothic

movement,bywhich, four

hundred years later, they were eclipsed.

The old

medisevalism, andthe new, marktheboundaries

of

oursubject. Atnopointin

thefourcenturieswhich

interveneddoesany

lineofcleavageoccuras

distinct

as those whichsever the

historyofarchitecture

at

these two points.

And between them

there isno