IV Rome and ourselves
Rome is a bazar in full swing, and a picturesque one. There you find every sort of horror and the bad taste of the Roman Renaissance. We have to judge this Renaissance by our modern taste which separates us from it by four great centuries of effort, the 17th, the 18th, the 19th and he 20th.
We reap the benefit of his endeavour; we judge hardly, but with a warrantable severity. These four centuries are lacking at Rome, which fell asleep after Michael Angel. Setting foot once again in Paris, we recover our ability to judge. The lesson of Rome is for wise men, for those who know and can appreciate , who can resist and verify. Rome is the damnation of the half educated. To send students of architecture students to Rome is to cripple them for life.