y enthusiasm for
architectural styles, old or new, must have appeared as futile as an
anxiety about appearances while one's house was burning.

To the art of this period the title "Renaissance" has been foolishly
applied. When used in association with the arts of architecture and
sculpture, it is essentially a misnomer. For these arts it was merely a
time of revival, not in any sense one of rebirth, as the word implies.
In no way can this period claim to have conferred vitality along with
the resuscitation of outward form. The revival of a classical style in
architectural design, which began in the early years of the fifteenth
century, was the sequel to a similar "revival" in the study of Greek and
Roman literature, then occupying the interests of cultivated scholars.
It was but a step further to desire also the realization of those
architectural splendors which were associated with these studies. Such
dilettante dreams can not be supposed to have deeply interested the
general public, with whose concerns they had but a remote connection; so
under these circumstances, probably the classical style was as suitable
as any other, chosen on such narrow and exclusive grounds. There was
even a certain fitness in it, a capability of much expansion on
theatrical and grandiose lines. Its unbending demeanor toward craft
talent of the humbler kind at once flattered the vanity of the cultured,
and cowed uneducated minds.

The Duomo at Florence was finished early in that century, and was one of
the first buildings in which the new style was adopted. In this case it
was used mainly in the completion of a building already well advanced on
lines based upon the older traditions. The character of its design,
although not of a strictly imitative kind, was distinctly based on a
classical ideal. Imitations followed, mingling, as in the case of the
Duomo, Gothic and classic elements, often with fine effect. It is quite
possible to believe that, had this intermarriage of the two schools
continued to bear fruit, some vertebrate style might have resulted from
the union, partaking of the nature of both parents; but the hope was of
short duration. Its architects, becoming enamored by the quality of
scientific precision, which is the fundamental principle of classical
design, soon abandoned all pretense of attempting to amalgamate the
native and imported styles. They gave themselves up wholly to the
congenial task of elaborating a scholarly system