Excerpt from A History of Architectural Development, Vol. 3 of 3

This volume treats of the Renaissance in Italy, France, and England. The temptation was strong to include other countries, but if more than a most cursory account of these had been attempted, the space allotted to the three mentioned must have been considerably curtailed, or else the volume would have swollen to unconscionable proportions. After all, Italy and France were the two main arteries through which the Renaissance flowed, and nearly all the phases of development can be traced in them alone. French work has been treated in this volume with considerable fulness, partly because it has long been a special favourite of mine, and partly because hitherto no reliable books on the subject in English have been available. In Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, as in England, the Renaissance was always struggling, never absolutely free. In all it was hampered at first by vernacular traditions, and when it finally threw those off, original development was checked, to a great extent, by the overpowering influence of Italian design.

The present volume, like the previous volumes, seeks to illustrate architectural development by reference to plan, construction, materials, and principles of design. The factors that advanced or retarded it at the different centres are also dwelt upon. In one respect, however, a slight difference in treatment was necessary. In the Middle Ages all workers were in complete unison, and the identity of each was merged in his work. In the days of the Renaissance the individual was paramount. In Italy, Brunelleschi, Bramante, and Michael Angelo, in France, Lemercier and Francois Mansard, in England, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, mark the different stages of advance. For this reason, except in the chapters dealing specially with plan and construction, development is mainly traced by a consideration, in approximately chronological order, of the buildings of these great masters and of others hardly less famous.

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