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

RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE

17

arbiter. Every

architect confesses

allegiance tothe

antique

;

none would

dispute the inspiration of

Vitruvius. Formany

the dictatesofthe

Augustan

critic

havethevalidityof

apapaldeliveranceupona

point offaith. Yet

theirefforts to giveexpression

to this

seemingly identical enthusiasm

are

contra-

dictoryintheextreme.

Neverwerethephasesofa

single art more

diverse. For to consistency the

Renaissance,withallitstheories,was

vitallyindiffer-

ent. Itsenergyis

ateverymomentsointensethat

the

forms, not of architecture alone, but ofevery

material object of

common use, are pressed into

simultaneous

andsympatheticexpression

;

yet itis

guided on no sure or general course. Its greater

schemes

too

often

bearevidencetothislackofcon-

tinuity,

thiswantofsubordinationtoinheritedprin-

ciple. UpontheproblemofSt.Peter'swereengaged

the minds of Bramante,

Michael

Angelo, Raphael,

Peruzzi,

Sangallo, Fontana, Maderna and

Bernini.

So much originality could not, without peril, be

focussed atasinglepoint

;

andthoseofBramante's

successorswho

werefortunate

enough

to

carrytheir

schemes into execution, obscured, if they did not

ignore,
the

large

idea which

he had bequeathed to

them. The history ofSt. Peter's is typical of

the

period. Shaped
by

a desire as powerful as it is

undefined,itsinventiveimpulse

remainsunexhausted,

andstylesucceeds
to

styleintheefforttosatisfy

the

B