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

CHAPTER I

RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE

Thearchitectureof Europe,in the

centuriesduring

whichourcivilisation

wasundertheswayof

classical

prestige,

passed in a continuous succession

through

phasesofextraordinarydiversity,

brevity andforce.

Ofarchitecture in

Italy was thismost particularly

true. The forms of Brunelleschi, masterful

as

they appeared when, by a daring

reversion of

style, he liberated Italian building

from the alien

traditionsofthenorth,seem,intwogenerations,to

bebutthehesitatingprecursorsofBramante's

more

definitive

art.

Bramante's formula

is scarcely

asserted, thepoiseandbalance ofclassicproportion

is

scarcely

struck, before theirfine adjustments

are

swept away upon the torrent that springs from

Michael Angelo. In the ferment of creation,

of

which Italy from

this timeforth is the scene,

the

greatestnamescount,relatively,forlittle. Palladio,

destined

to provide

the canon of English classic

building,andtobecome,

forus,theprimeinterpreter

oftheantiquej^heremakes butamomentarystand

amongthecontendingcreeds.

Hissearchforform,

IS