II. ROMAN RENAISSANCE

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mouldings sharp and shallow, so that the bold shafts looklike crystals of beryl running through a rock of quartz.

§ 2 . This palace is the principal type at Venice , and one°f the best in Europe , of the central architecture of theRenaissance schools; that carefully studied and perfectlyexecuted architecture to which those schools owe theirprincipal claims to our respect, and which became themodel of most of the important works subsequently pro-duced by civilised nations. I have called it the RomanRenaissance , because it is founded, both in its principles°f superimposition, and in the style of its ornament, uponthe architecture of classic Rome at its best period. Therevival of Latin literature both led to its adoption anddirected its form; and the most important example of itwhich exists is the modern Roman basilica of St. Peter’s,ft had, at its Renaissance or new birth, no resemblanceeither to Greek, Gothic, or Byzantine forms, except inretaining the use of the round arch, vault, and dome; mthe treatment of all details, it was exclusively Latin ; thelast links of connexion with mediaeval tradition havingheen broken by its builders in their enthusiasm for classicalart , and the forms of true Greek or Athenian architecturebeing still unknown to them. The study of these noblef^reek forms has induced various modifications of theRenaissance in our own times; but the conditions whichare found most applicable to the uses of modern life arest iH Roman, and the entire style may most fitly be ex-pressed by the term “ Roman Renaissance .”

§ 3- It is this style, in its purity and fullest form,represented by such buildings as the Casa Grimani atVenice (built by San Micheli ), the Town Hall at Vicenza (by Palladio), St. Peter’s at Rome (by Michael Angelo ),St - Paul’s and Whitehall in London (by Wren and Inigo Jones ),—which is the true antagonist of the Gothic school.The intermediate, or corrupt conditions of it, thoughMultiplied over Europe , are no longer admired by archi-tects, or made the subjects of their study; but the finishedwork of this central school is still, in most cases, theModel set before the student of the nineteenth century, asopposed to those Gothic, Romanesque, or Byzantine formsvol. m. c