CHAPTER VII.
THE RENAISSANCE AND LATER.
The Classic Revival.
So far we have been considering Gothic churches, but we now come to the time when, from a variety of causes, the Italian architects, among them Palladio and Vitruvius, began to revive classical architecture, a movement which gradually spread over other parts of Europe. The various causes which led to this apparently retrograde movement are still involved in considerable obscurity. The commercial prosperity of the age produced a class who travelled abroad and cultivated the fine arts, with the result that they desired to see erected in England buildings such as they had seen in Rome, Florence, Genoa and Padua. It is generally admitted that the ramifications of Gothic architecture had reached their utmost limit, and the style was getting out of hand, as is seen by the flamboyant buildings on the continent. The revival of classical literature in western Europe gave an impetus to the movement which was largely intended to enfold art within the shelter of an enlightened taste, and protect it from the licence of unordered enthusiasm. How far it succeeded is not a question that can be discussed at length here, but, however good their intentions may have been, the architects used little discrimination in the selection of buildings which were to serve as models for Christian churches, and although subsequently considerable improvements were made, yet, most of the defects in the pagan buildings of the ancients were retained in such as were intended to be utilized for Christian worship, and even considered purely as exercises in architecture it was not until the more chaste remains of antiquity began to be studied that the spirit and harmony of the good examples were attained. A greater contrast than the methods employed by the Gothic mason and the Renaissance architect could not well be imagined. The former shaped his material with his own hands; the foster mother of his art was tradition and its cradle the craftsman's bench; whereas the latter, with no builder's training, worked out his flawless and precise plans in the exotic atmosphere of the office and the study. The practice of making working drawings for every detail of the building was the cause of the decline of ornamental sculpture, with the result that all life and growth in the building ceased. Some authorities are very severe on the Renaissance movement. Dr. Fergusson, in his "Modern Styles of Architecture," says: "During the Gothic era the art of building was evolved by the simple exercise of man's reason, with the result that the work of this period is the instinctive natural growth of man's mind. The buildings, on the other hand, which were designed in the imitative styles, and produced on a totally different principle, present us with an entirely different result, and one which frequently degrades architecture from its high position of a quasi-natural production to that of a mere imitative art."
Inigo Jones
and Wren.
Be this as it may, the severe classical style introduced into England by Inigo Jones (who studied in Italy under Palladio), and continued by Sir Christopher Wren, soon swept everything before it.
Our most remarkable church in this style is S. Paul's Cathedral, which in style has two very adverse circumstances to struggle against. In the first place, it bears so great a similarity to the great church of S. Peter, at Rome, that one cannot help comparing it with that fine example, and secondly, it is the only English cathedral which is not in the Gothic style. It must, of course, be acknowledged that S. Paul's falls far short of S. Peter's, especially in its lighting, but it does not deserve the condemnation of a great German critic, who said, "It is a building marked neither by elegance of form nor vigour of style." Although the interior of its dome and clerestory of the nave and choir are extremely gloomy when compared with those of S. Peter's, the church is generally acknowledged to be far superior to the latter in its architectural details, and few, if any, Italian churches can be said to surpass it, either in general composition or external effect, although it must be admitted that everything having been sacrificed to attain the latter quality, S. Paul's taken as a whole, is neither worthy of its fine situation nor of its great architect.
Other churches which are excellent examples of this style are S. Stephen's, Walbrook, and S. Mary Abchurch, London. Both show remarkable skill. The former is divided into a nave and four aisles, transepts, and a shallow chancel, by four rows of Corinthian columns, with a small dome over the intersection. The interior is very beautiful, and this church is generally considered to be Wren's masterpiece. S. Mary Abchurch, is nearly square in plan, has no columns and is covered with a domical ceiling, but so skilfully treated that the effect is singularly pleasing.
Hawkesmore.