New-York tribune., 1905-11-02
Literary .Nete,s and Criticism.

thing seems 10 get between him and the beauty
which first leaps to the eyes of other men, OF
that bewitching specimen Of poychromatic de-
sign In Perugia the little church OF San Ber-
nardino which illumines the famous hill town
like some fairy vision of ioveliness. he says that
1t is a combination of members put together
With regard to structural consistency we
feel that ought to thank professor moore
with special fervor for this portentous an
nounceinent The palaces are no more pieasinS
TO him than are the churches; in fact, the
Renaissance architecture Of Italy appears 10
fssz17i@-~@'T~ @%~f14.set'7f7@ O. 1918 saI,
rouse his seorn wherever he sees IL. opsah'i's
of q building fascinating In Its way as the
Perugian church to which allusion has just been
made. the Palazzo del Consigho, at verona lie
remarks that ito the simple arcade ana PLAIN
walled superstructure the neo-classic details are
inappropriate and meaningless" The delightful
Palazzo Bevilacqua at Verona. is "a capTlcious
scheme by which the designer has sought to
quicken the jaded sengibiltties of people sur
feited with architectural alterations" A half
hearted tribute to the Palazzo Riccardi is fol-
lowed by one passage so curiously inept that we
must quote it intact:
The spacious apartments of these early floren-
tine IA are s gneb Tdb, as al fner TRey
however rarely we'll lighted Inc ceiliags % io1v
windows and TIE windows disposed for ex-
ternal effect rather than for convenience within.
are rrei9 Gii sdapted e to % %eheerfu indoor life il
Northern climate they would low be efar are as
galleries for the display Of works of art they do
wall spaces Being Wen lighted and the disposition
of the openings often such as to produce e'hoar-
RAISING cross lights and reflections
Bv this reasoning a bungalow In the tropics
would be condemned because, at the North
Pole it would provide inadequate shelter; ana
the memory of the architect who built tnealre
in the eighteenth century. turned into depart
ment store in the nineteenth, would be de-
nounced because he had failed to put in counters
and elevators A writer of Professor Moores
standing ought to be above the making or such
peavish comments The truth is that, whether
because of ineradicable Gothic prejudfces or
from sheer incapacity to get at the genius OF
people in operation. he has written throughout
in this volume as though from the outside. sig
nally failing to grasp the really salient eleinehtS
in the problem attacked. We do not unoer-
estimate the foihles of the Renaissance archl-
tects Their structural inconsistencies and the
hybrid effects they based on Roman precedent
have long been recognized by thoughtful stu
dants But such students are we'll aware of
the qualities of invention, taste. decorative
charm and dignity often rising to grandeur
which completely overshadow their academic
/ defectg. Men like Brunelleschi and Bramante
being men of genius. had the precious gifts OF
stvle and distinction. Professor Moores tepld
expressions in regard TO a masterpiece like the
Cancelleria at Rome seem little absurd IL
is difficult to understand how a professed spe-
| cialist in architecture could remain so unmoved
! as this author shows himself to be again and
again in the course of his survey He goes to
! Todi to look at Of the noblest churches in
! Italy that of Santa Maria della Consolazione
and writes a passage like the following. the last
sentence of which is positively irritating in its
| grudging nature:
The exterior of this monument has much merit
| in its general form and proportions The great
| central square mass visible from the ground up
| ward, gives the sense of support for the dome
/ which the eye demands and the apses with their
half effectively grouped in subordinate
! TO the crownfng feature. But this merit. which
Todi shares with many other buildings of the
Renaissance, is primarily due to the Byzantine