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

CHAPTER II

THE ROMANTIC

FALLACY

TheRenaissanceproducedno

theoryofarchitecture.

Itproduced

treatisesonarchitecture: FraGiocondo,

Alberti, Palladio, Serlio,andmanyothers, notonly

built,

but wrote. But the style theybuilt in was

tooalivetoadmitofanalysis,toopopulartorequire

defence.

They give us rules, but not principles.

Theyhadnoneedoftheory,fortheyaddressedthem-

selves

to

taste. Periods of vigorous production,

absorbedinthe practicalandtheparticular,donot

encourageuniversalthought.

The death of the Renaissance tradition should

have

enabledmen,for

thefirsttime,totakeageneral

viewofitshistory,andtodefineitsprinciples,

if

not

with scientificexactness, at leastwithout provinci-

alityorbias. Ofthe causes which precluded

them

from

sodoing,the

firstwastheprolongedascendency

of

the Romantic

Movement.

tf

TheRomantic Movementcreated,

inallthe arts,

a
deep unrest,

prompting mento newexperiments

;

and,followingontheexperiments,

therecameagreat

enlargement of critical

theory, seeking to

justify

37