New-York tribune., 1867-07-16


''" O'' F''- LONDON, June 80 1857.
Mr. John Ruskin delivered recently at the Royal
Institution one of the most eloquent ana poWeriul
lectures which it has ever been my good fortune 10
hear. II was given to a crowded audience, which
oopta;,ed many of the leading minds Of the country
Sir Henry Holland was in the chair, with Earl STAN
hone and Sir Roderick Murchison. Mr. Millas, the
artist and his wife--formerly Mrs Ruskinwere also
Dresent The subject of the lecture the present
condition of Art with reference to National Gal
lery Mr. Ruskin began by apOlogzing for the posi-
tivisn of the tone in which he was about to speak
The faot was that after giving great deal of study
10 a thing there were few things that man really
knows, and it would not be frank for him to say
Would it not seem, &c" 1t rather appears to me,
&C.," ho meant to bring before them only what he
know, and he must use the tone of positiyism He
then proceeded present the leading characteristics
of the Art of the present day. And the first of these
is its Compassonateness. Nothing more prOmi-
nent in the paintings of the present day than the
large human sympathy which loved TO surround with
beauty the crowned sorrow of poverty. Eugene Sue
had said. If the rich only knew and Art did know
the depth of truth and beauty among the poor.
Ancient Art honOred the palace that of to-day loves
the cottage and prefers peasants to kings But there
is this to be said that the poverty of old times was
proud conscious poverty making virtue of its rags,
pathOs investing it for the finest hearts. II sig
nhcant that this Compassionate Art should nave 1or
its greatest representative Edouaid fLTe-
the brother Mr. Ruskin here exhibited an
exquisite painting by Frere, of q room IN
cottage. scantily furnished. but clean. and a
lonely little glrl sitting on a chair scrap'Ie
said. the sympathetic touches of light and shade i'll
this picture You will find that whenever there
exists this sensitveness to human conditions there
il CONSTITUENCIES also to light and shadOwthe type
of Sorrow. The second characteristic OF the Art OF
the present day Is its Dom1;eSc e1mS fbS 1nscrv '
And this he regretted to say with all its advantages
was closely connected with what he must call ITS
third characteristic namely ITS ShaliowneSs' for
people to be entirely comfortable in their little nests
implies some narrOwness. There is wrong SIDE as
we'll as a right side to every tapestry Ii is true that
one NAV now walk along many walls covered with |
pictures without learning anything more than that
the domestic ginger Is hot IN the moth anS r ,nao
days. TAT this point in the oratIon an episode occ
CURED which is quite unprecenented IN the annals OF
creme dc Ia creme An old gentleman who had probably
taken something stronger than cream had now and |
then been giving bent TO his feelings by calculating
"Quite right, that's so,n and now he began to talk |
80 continuously that Ruskin had to stop. There |
were calls that that gentleman should be put OUT
and Mr. Dence Jones and Prof Iyndat long known |
Cor their skill in drawing people to the Royal, pro-
ceeded to the novel experience OF eXpelhng one |
They went to HIM and Iynda sa1d ll ra;Sd the od
gentleman with good humoT that made the auuir, |
enoe Foar. 1--WE come to hear Ruskin III SIT here
II III.
hearsed in an epic took hold of aud Jones OF
o leg. and the man vanished L. and }. presently |
greeted with loud cheersl Mr. Ruskin, ia proceed
ing uttered several sentences from his manuscript
which were so oddlyappropriate to the scene that |
had lust occurred that the audience were excited 70
great laughter, in which the lecturer joined The |
first of these GpOpos sentences was Sequent on the
Domestcity of Art is its eccentricity. and another
was The sense of everything true is lost in hub
hub of voices" When the gravity OF the company !
had been restored the speaker went on TO say that the
go Jaxr iuiur hv
ing after Originality-an originality corrupted by
isolation There painfully powerful displays of
dextefty If artist has fault he is as apt as not
TO consider it his excellence, and to tight for hs
fault Another bad characteristic is the perpetual
intrcductiOn of dramatic effects. Art may be oil.
vided into Constant Art and Dramatic Art Constant
Art dwells not upon what . person or thing Is now
doing but what they The greatest artists, even
slight as possible; all that tho great Apollo does is
to kill lizard. They made their herOs movement
suggest greater reserved power than is put forth IN
any art. As an example of this he exhibited HOl-
beins St Michael Staying the Dragon" But there
is tendency in ant a-days to simply tell story
This was in concession to public which conld not
enjoy beautifia forms but could enjoy good story
But nothing that person is momentaI1lly doing IS
of any importance compared with the permanent /
character Of that person For one who can paint |
beautiful form there ten who can paint pleas
ant story and ten times ten who can paint an un- |
pleasant one. That is why our art is 80 |
ephemeral People do not want to hear the same
story over and over, and so the new picture
passes away with the new novel. Mr.. Ruskin then
showed that as ancient art began 10 emphasize the
dramatic element instead OF form and color, IT de
Olined and at last became vapd. All that was val
uable in modern art a movement against this
yaPidity At the head of these reformers be placed
Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Here he exhibited paint
ing which he had snatched from Koesetts studio just
as he had scratched out one Of the heads In H. and
was thinking of extnguishing the rest. Ii was
painted at the time Rosseth was bursting out INTO
his passionate religious art. The painting represented
the keeping the Passover IN the house of Joseph
while Jesus was yet child. Mary kneenng sprinkles
blood ON the lntels of the door Jesus in long pink
gown stands look ing on, while the yonng John fas-
tens sandal on his fOOtOne of the rules OF keeping
the passover in which was delicate almsiOn TO the
words the lateliets of whose shoes an not worthy
10 loose The picture was wonderful for color. and
the figure of Jesus surprisingly beautiful. The in
cdent was one that might have happened-that es-
sentialy did happen IN many Jewish home. An,
other great painter of this school was Mr. BuTnand
Jones, several Of whose designs for tapestry were
hung behing the lecturer. One of these was Love
leading Acestis and another the two wives of Jason
hand ia hand-Medea and Hypsipyle. The touching
beauty and refinement Of these faces We're felt by all
and they were much applauded, tie also spoke OF
Mr.. Joness fine picture of ST. Dorothea IN the Water
Color Exhibition now open. The leading figure Of
the picture is the angel bringing flowers from hea-
ven; the saints funeral is removed into corner OF
tho back ground. DomenichinO would have put the |
angel into the corner and the corpse m frOnt. But |
the English and Italian public had exchanged tastes,
and London is now frescoed with the billposters
Talking Head,S 70 offset the street hescoes OF We
roma and Padua This ahsion TO the picture Of some
exhibition going on at the Polytechnic, which has |
been for some time covering the walls Of London ex-
there was general friyOlty among the people, !
there disposition to gloat horrible forms.
Lately. when Robert le Diq6be was performed at the
Opera, it was not considered enough that the /
cOrpses should rise up in the abbey and |
then become ballet-dancers, but a neat stTpke |
candles while tie others danced! He showed some |
groteSque figures by Dore of whom he spoke with |
great contempt, and said that it was a sad symptom i
while the British public called for Dore illustrate
its Bible This wTetchedness of the public taste |