Read the following passage:
"The prevailing view among architectural historians is that the shift from Gothic to Renaissance architecture was driven primarily by aesthetic rediscovery. However, this perspective overlooks the crucial role of changing economic structures in the 15th century. The concentration of wealth among mercantile elites in cities like Florence created a new class of patrons. Unlike the Church, whose patronage favored the communal and vertically oriented Gothic structures meant to inspire religious awe, these new mercantile patrons sought buildings that reflected their personal wealth, rationality, and civic prominence. Consequently, they favored the symmetrical, human-scaled proportions of the classical style, which implicitly celebrated individual achievement and earthly order. Therefore, the architectural transformation of the Renaissance should be understood not merely as an aesthetic evolution, but fundamentally as the spatial manifestation of a shifting economic power dynamic."
Arrange the following claims from the passage in their logical hierarchy of support, from the most foundational supporting premise (first) to the overarching main point of the passage (last).
- 1Wealth became heavily concentrated among mercantile elites in 15th-century Florence, creating a new class of patrons.
- 2Unlike the Church, these new secular patrons sought buildings that reflected their personal wealth, rationality, and civic prominence.
- 3Because they wished to celebrate individual achievement, these patrons favored the symmetrical, human-scaled proportions of the classical architectural style.
- 4The architectural transformation of the Renaissance must be understood fundamentally as the spatial manifestation of a shifting economic power dynamic.