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

56

THE

ARCHITECTURE OF

HUMANISM

romanticism, ancient

or modem,

has, it is safeto

say,

been aperiodof

marked antiquarianism.

The

glamour

ofthepast,andthe

romanticvenerationfor

it, are very

naturally extended to

the minutiae in

whichthe pastsooften

is preserved,and

are

bound

tolend encouragement totheirstudy.

Noris this

study

in itselfotherthan beneficial.

But

thefault

oftheantiquarian

spirit,inarchitecturalthought,is

precisely that it attaches an

undue

importance to

detail as opposed to those more general values of

Mass,
Space,

Line,andCoherencewithwhich archi-

tectureproperlydeals,andwhichitwillbethelater

purposeof

thisstudytoanalyse anddescribe. For

the presentit isenoughto

emphasisethe

factthat

betweenRenaissancearchitectureandtheantiquarian

criticism of the Romantic fallacy there is
a

funda-

mentalopposition: andthatoppositionliesintheir

attitudetodetail. Forantiquariancriticismregards

detailasthesupremeconsiderationand
Renaiissance

architectureregardsitasasecondaryandsubservient

consideration. And not only do they

give it a

differentdegree
ofimportance,but, stillmore,they

giveitanimportanceofawhollydifferent
kind. For

inRenaissancearchitecturethe
purposeofdetail,as

we

shallsee,is

primarilytogiveeffecttothevalues

of Mass, Space, Line, and Coherence
in the whole

design
;

and, secondarily,

upon a smaller scale, to

exhibit

these

qualitiesinitself. But

fortheromantic