The Life of John RuskinCollingwood, W. G. (William Gershom)
Philosophy
The Life of John Ruskin
Collingwood, W. G. (William Gershom)
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Ruskin, John, 1819-1900
The first statement of the new point of view was, as we said, the
Inaugural Lecture of the Cambridge School of Art. The next important
utterance was at Manchester, February 22nd, 1859, where he spoke on the
"Unity of Art," by which he meant--not the fraternity of handicrafts
with painting, as the term is used nowadays--but that, in whatever
branch of Art, the spirit of Truth or Sincerity is the same. In this
lecture there is a very important passage showing how he had at last got
upon firm ground in the question of art and morality: "_I do_ NOT _say
in the least that in order to be a good painter you must be a good man_;
but I do say that in order to be a good natural painter there must be
strong elements of good in the mind, however warped by other parts of
the character." So emphatic a statement deserves more attention than it
has received from readers and writers who assume to judge Ruskin's views
after a slight acquaintance with his earlier works. He was well aware
himself that his mind had been gradually enlarging, and his thoughts
changing; and he soon saw as great a difference between himself at forty
and at twenty-five, as he had formerly seen between the Boy poet and the
Art critic. He became as anxious to forget his earlier books, as he had
been to forget his verse-writing; and when he came to collect his
"Works," these lectures, under the title of "The Two Paths," were (with
"The Political Economy of Art") the earliest admitted into the library.
After this Manchester lecture he took a driving tour in
Yorkshire--posting in the old-fashioned way--halting at Bradford for the
lecture on "Modern Manufacture and Design" (March 1st), and ending with
a visit to the school at Winnington, of which more in a later chapter.
In 1859 the last Academy Notes, for the time being, were published. The
Pre-Raphaelite cause had been fully successful, and the new school of
naturalist landscape was rapidly asserting itself. Old friends were
failing, such as Stanfield, Lewis, and Roberts: but new men were growing
up, among whom Ruskin welcomed G.D. Leslie, F. Goodall, J.C. Hook,--who
had come out of his "Pre-Raphaelite measles" into the healthy naturalism
of "Luff Boy!"--Clarence Whaite, Henry Holiday, and John Brett, who
showed the "Val d'Aosta." Millais' "Vale of Rest" was the picture which
attracted most notice: something of the old rancour against the school
was revived in the _Morning Herald_, which called his works
"impertinences," "contemptible," "indelible disgrace," and so on. It was
the beginning of a transition from the delicacy of the Pre-Raphaelite
Millais to his later style; and as such the preacher of "All great art
is delicate" could not entirely defend it. But the serious strength of
the imagination and the power of the execution he praised with
unexpected warmth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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