The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-21 00:00:00

JOHN RUSKIN.

Modern Painters. Vols. 111. and IV. By John
Ruskin, M.A. Smith, Elder, and Co.
In all seriousness, let us say at once that we do
conscientiously believe Mr. John Ruskin-to be one
of those rare individuals to whom an especial
"mission" has been entrusted. And, more than
this, we believe him,-at _the smile time, to be one.
who—reverently _conscious of that " mission ",
strenuously endeavours, to the very uttermost of
his capacity; to fulfil it, Let it be Observed,how-
ever, at once that, while. we speak thus, we are by no
means among those who may henceforth be termed
Ruskinites. We have the highest admiration for
our author's abilities. Weappreciate his genius in
some of its more delicate, certainly in most of its
more obvious, characteristics. But we discover
ourselves differing in opinion from him repeatedly.
We often.and often. find it impossible to arrive at
the same conclusions with those he so earnestly
and eloquently proclaims to be 'incontrovertible.
We have the highest respect for his judgment, but
we can't for thelife of us believe in its infallibility.
Neither for that matter, it should be borne in minds
does he himself. His intellect is by far too sane
for that ! As he reminds his readers in the candid
.and manly. Preface adorning the third volume of
his great work "Modern Painters"—the phrase
'" I think so," or "it seems so to me," is to be met
with in its'pages continually. . Insomuch indeed
that as he here observes of himself rather
forcefully (the emphasis of the italics even, being
his own), "I am not dogmatic.' And so far in truth
—whatever his many bitter personal antagonists
may intimate to the contrary--4°lin Ruskin is not
a dogmatist. A hoarse laugh of derision may be
rallied at this, but the fact still continues so never-
theless.- Wherever a thing cannot `be positively.
stated in regard to painting as "a. truth;"--our
author honestly avows it simply as "an opinion."
And there are truths, surely, in painting ;as there
are truths in any other arts, as there are truth in
science, as there are truths in philosophy. To
talk of dogmatism in regard to the enunciation of
'which would be simply absurd and preposterous.
Mr. Ruskin says,. however, exactly what we are
here trying to articulate, as plainly as possible, in
words than which nene-could be distinguished by
more admirable luCidity or explicitness. " There
are," he observes, "laws of truth and right in
painting just as fixed as those of harmony in music,
or of affinity in chemistry"—adding a little further
on that it would be as ridiculonsfor a person to
speak hesitatingly about laws of painting, who has
conscientiously given his time to their ascertain-
ment; as it would be for Mr. Faraday to an/ a dubious manner that iron had an ajinity for
oxygen, and to put the question to :the Tote of his
audience whether it had or • not. 7 Admirable
This is the true reductio ad absurdum. And as-
stredly it would be ridiculous to charge
Professor Faraday with dogmatism as a Che-
mist, or an Electrician, or a Metallurgist,
because he simply states the truths of science
instead . of timorously suggesting' those truths
as matters of opinion, worthy perhaps of
casual examination some time by his miscellaneous
auditory ! As ridiculous (not a jot more so,-how-
ever), as it would be to tax with dogmatism the
simple enunciation of the " lawS of truth and
right" in painting, whether the enunciation come
from Mr. Ruskin, the Oxford Graduate, or from
Mr. Leslie, the Royal Academician. Such-, an
enunciation (no matter by whom made) cannot be
dogmatical—any more than it can be dognaa,tiCal
to assert that two and two make four, or to assert
that white light is divisible by the prism into the
three primary colours of red, blue, and' yellow !
Thickly " sown" as Mr. Ruskin's -writiuo_are,
therefore, in all matters of mere " opinion," with
such. modest 'phrases (distinctly disclaiming any-
thing at all like .the ex athedra coxcombry of
' pragmatic authority) as " I think 'so," and " it
seems so to me "—let us hear no more of this non-
aensical gabble about the dogmatism of the Oxford.
Graduate. Dogmatic, again we repeat, he is not:
He states the truths of art, the laws of truth in
painting, states them 'plainly, so that even a
blockhead may recognise them ! He puts for-
ward at other moments his opinions upon art,
his ideas in regard tothe aims and the methods:cf
painting; suggesting- those opinions, suggesting
those ideas,
.earnestly no doubt, with, all This
heart and soul in their utterance, with
all the graces of his rhetoric, and , all the
fervour' of his enthusiasm, but -still' merely sug-
gesting them ! He is too conscientious a, thinker,
ever deliberately to confuse one with the other :
the laws of truth in art and mere matters of indi
viclual. opinion. Wherefore, again sayF-Wisi -
sheer absurdity to talk of Mr. Ruskin.a.s.a perverse
and crotchetty dogmatist. He is rk more this
than he is, what some really still-seemfanCy him;
.
a mere tyro in art, as some actually yetcall him, a
mere amateur in matters of painting. If there is
one man in this country who has thoroughly edu-
cated himself for the office'of a professional critic,
and a competent professional critic, upon the sub-
ject of pictures, that man we do not hesitate to
say, that man we cannot in reason for one instant
hesitate to say, is John Ruskin. Already (he tells
us in this Preface to vol. iii.) he has given ten
years of his life to the, single purpose of enabling
himself to judge rightly of Art, spendiug them,. he
adds, in "labour as earnest and continuous as
men usually undertake to gain position or accumu-
late fortune." There was something chivalric in
the mere awakening of his innate capacities as an
Art-Critic—when he suddenly startled the world of
Art-Critics in ,England with the youthful outpour-
ings of his enthusiasm. Volume One of the re-
markable work under consideration, was penned
with burning haste, under the generous
impulse of putting .an end, if possible, to
those odious and insensate revilings of Turner,
—(incomparably the greatest landscape painter that
ever lived !)—by which, as Mr. Ruskin here ex-
presses it, with an evident sense on his part still of
mingled scorn and indignation towards the assail-
ants of Turner, the public at large were prevented
from honouring the great artist's genius, and that
too at the very time when his powers were in their
fullest maturity ! A noble etfort—and one which
happily proved, as we all of -us remember, in a veiy
eminent degree successful.. Insomuch that the
Oxford'Graduate finds himself nowadays anything
rather than in a minority as an appreciator of Tur-
ner's taid-carear masterpieces I Volume Two fol—.
lowed in due course, confirming the victory achieved
by Volfime , One, though lacking, we still cannot
but" 'think, much of that divine affiatis in' the
way of poetic description which in the earlier. por-
tions of the work secured to the young and until
then unheard-of Oxford Graduate a brilliant and
almost instantaneous, and although iustantaneotns,
we believe in a great measure enduring, reputation.
Scarcely, however, was that second Nolunie issued
from the press when the hero of the production
was attacked by disease; his artistic powers
betraying. towards the close of 1845 very
perceptible declension—in alluding to which cir
crunstances, now, Mr. Ruskin remarks iu his pre-
face to. this continuation' of Modern Painters, 4‘
saw that nothing remained for me to write, but
his epitaph." Another volume (the fifth), a volume
announced to appear in the ensuing autumn will
bring the chef d'ogurores of 'John Raskin to its con-
clusion. Already its scope and , purpose, even
without the aid of that terminal instalment, is,
at this moment, we conceive sufficiently appa-
rent. It constitutes the elaborated exponent not
merely of the individual views of its author upon
art generally, but of those more important laws of
Painting, the-value of which is as Much beyond the
limits of exaggeration as their validity is altogether •
removed beyoud the reach of .scepticism. It!re-
veals the most comprehensive and eclectic capacity
Of 'appreciation for the true and the beautiful
wherever discoverable—without regard to time or
country, to schools or styles, to prejudices or pre-
dilections. It embraces among, its conspicuous
objects an earnest and dispassionate survey of the
‘various recent or still living painters. It carries
the artist back irresistibly to the primal school of
all—the study of Nature. Other works of note
our author has produCed; no doubt, -eminently
entitled to consideration. He has displayed the
most searching keenness of observation in " The
&Vert Lainps of Arehitecture ;" the most catholic
ilste in- various 'departments in his Lectures on
"Painting and Architecture ;" the most fervid.
eloquence (as usual)iu his three noble volumes about
the " Stones of Venice ;" much controversial hardi-
hood in his " Notes on the Construction of Sheep-
, folde;" undiminished antiquarian ardour in• his i
essay on " The Opening of the Crystal Palace ;" a
really charming adroitness of fancy-in-his fairy tale
of " The King of the Golden "River; or, the Blabk'
Brothers •" and it very daring determination .to
think and speak independently in his rather me-
morable treatise upon the subject of " Pre-Raphae-
litism." Besides which he is • now bringing out
annually what he feels (reasonably enough, we con-
ceive) that he ought to bring out annually, viz.,
"Notes upon the Principal 'Pictures exhibited in
the Rooms of the Royal Academy," as well as in
the apartments of other contemporaneous art-ex-
hibitions in London and Westminster. This last-
mentioned enterprise (recently announced by Mr.
Ruskin to be henceforth among the lobjects of -his
life) being his periodical contribution, as an Art
Critic, towards the education of the taste and judg-.
.ment upon matters of art, of his fellow-country-
men.
_Yet the work, par excellence,. among.
various and remarkable works yet given..to the
' world by the genius and industry of John Ruskin;
' we take this notable production, at once -the-ear-
liest and the latest among all his notable prodne
tions, to be—this encyclopedic treatise upon art,
I entitled "Modern Painters." -A treatise upon
Art, chiefiy.renlarkable, -we cannot -but thiniki