The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

SUPPLEMENT TO

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fittraturt.

MR. RUSKIN ON ARTISTIC
EDUCATION.*
Ir is hardly possible that Mr. Ruskin should write
anything, especially on the subject of Art, which,
whatever fault may be found with it on the score
of its sophistical or arrogant spirit, should not be
at least remarkable for brilliancy and vigour ;
and he must be far more perverse, more dog-
matic, and more irreconcileable with himself
than he has ever yet been, before the public will
cease to listen to his eloquence, or fail in eager-
ness to purchase the slightest work which may
fall from his pen. We can as little imagine him
promulgating any view which shall be totally
false and foolish, as we can conceive him deprived
of his marvellous power of description or his
habitual moral suggestiveness.—On the other
hand, we are inclined to say—which possibly he
may regard as one of the sincerest compliments
that could be paid him !—that of late years we
have never felt his utterances wholly satisfactory,
and have been disposed to question more than
ever the fundamental soundness of some of his
Liter, and apparently favourite, views. The rea-
con, perhaps, is that in his earlier works he con-
fined himself to the subject of Art alone, while
M various later publications he has shown a
tendency to take up " things in general," and
offer instruction on a good many points besides
those which are usually supposed to be compre-
hended in the sphere of his special study.
Thus, in the present lecture he recurs, apparently
with perfect confidence, to the notions of Art-
Organization which he promulgated in his Poli-
tical Economy of Art," a point on which (see
THE PAM, Jan. 9, 1858) we have already ex-
pressed our opinion. We could ill afford to be
without such a writer as Mr. Ruskin, but it is to
be feared that his ideas of social amelioration lay
too little stress on the reformation of individual
character—too much on external agencies ; and,
moreover, that these agencies, if brought to bear,
would amount to something very like a " Paternal
Government." Some such views are in some
degree inseparable from his idiosyncrasy.
Endowed with sympathies which are perhaps
wide rather than deep, and blessed, or cursed,
with one of those architectonic minds that in-
stinctively seeks to compress the Universe itself
into the mould of its own individuality—which,
having reached what are, or seem to be, first
principles in one branch of knowledge, never
rests till it has carried them through all
others, inevitably desiring to grasp the world
of thought, feeling, and action into one consistent
and harmonious system of law and order,—Mr.
Ruskin seems to belong, as regards the general
'Cope of his intellect and character, rather to the
cjass of thinkers who are represented by Plato,
Fourier, Owen, and Comte, than to those among
the
Aristotle, Butler, Bentham, and Mill are
I,a! leading spirits. There is always something
'reaching and noble about his thoughts—a
'igour and earnestness about his writing which
carry" you away in spite of yourself, and lift you

Cuabridge School of Art. Mr. Ruskin's Inaugural Ad-
delivered at flambridge, Oct. 29, 1d5:1. Cambridge :
u'll•toil• London: Bell and Daldy.