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

THE ROMANTIC

FALLACY

67

itwhereveritmightbe

found. As in the

cult of

the past, so,

too, in this cult of

the 'natural,' it

was

literature,the trueinstrument

ofthe

Romantic

Movement,thatledthe

way.

|

"Itis

evidentthatarchitecture

andthecriticismof

architecturehave reflected

thispoeticchange.

The

formal

garden, necessarily, was the first

object of

attack. IntheRenaissancetaste

thegardenwasan

extensionofthemain

design. Itwasamiddleterm

between architecture and Nature.

The transition

from house to landscape

was logically effected by

combining

at this point formality of design

with

naturalness of material.

The garden was thus an

integral, anarchitectural, elementin the art.

But

whenNature, through poetry,acquired

itsprestige,

the formal

garden

stood condemned. Unpleasing

in itself, becaiise

'

unnatural,' it wasin addition

a

barbarousviolence,aruthlessvandalism

uponpools

and

trees^ Itwas

an

offence againstNatureallthe

morediscordantbecauseitwasexpressedinNature^'s

terms. Thus,beforetheimpactofNaturalism

shook

traditional designinactualarchitecture,

the formal

gardenwasalreadygone. Eighteenthcenturyphilo-

sophers, seated under porticoes still impeccably

Greek,
were

enabled comfortablyto

venerate Nature

—or, if not Nature, at least her symbol

—

^as they

watchedtheirancestralbutunromanticgardensgive

place to a

'

prospect'

oflittle holes and

hills. At