New-York tribune., 1875-09-25
JOHN RUSKIN.
HIS OPINION OF MUSEUMS.


THE GREAT CRITICS GENIUS STILL BRILLIANT
AND FERTILE
fFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THr TRIBUNE
LONDON, Sept Ell you were obhged-for your
sine or otherwise-to lock through great nunper
of English newspapers you would after whie "e
struck BY the amount and kind OF attention tnev
beslow on Mr.. RusIn. BY the AMOUNT because ten
lines from him are enough to call out n many COZ
ums of comment on HIM. By the kind. because the
ten columns are, wholly great part devoted 10
proving that the ten lines deserve no attention at
all. OF deserve condemnation. And ~ MI. hushlhs
ten lines appear pretty frequently the space he and
his commentators together occupy ia the BLUSH
oress is considerable. This week has supplied one
instance Sheffield has been opening Park and
Museum the two costing $l50,000. There has
been of course q dinner TO celebrate the event anti
there have been. equally of course. speeches. One
Of the speakers was Mr.. ". Bragge, F. Il. C.. :.
M ". Bragge tells us that he had read III recent
uumber of FOrs CIare,erd that Mr.. Ruskln intended
to open museum OF h!s own in Sheffield IN connec-
tson with the st, Georges Company ana that be ac-
oordingly wrote IL MIR. Ruskn that the public
museum was nearly coinpleted. and woud be. If he
liked. placed a; has disposal. TO which Mr.. Ruskin
replied in letter which. though perhaps more than
ten lines long is not too long to quote III full
BRENTWOOD COSsToN. LANG CAsIIIRE
MY DEAR SIR am obliged by your note pn'
the work the st. Georges Company is neccs-
EARLY distinct from all others My museum may
perhaps nothing but what deserves respect III ART or
se seT o Se M Sbc Tair mind sraS simply an exhibition Of the
possible mode of DONG wrOnc, ana an aocumu;tnn oI
tnre Oar own museum at oxford Is full Of distorted
skulls. Your Sheffield iron work depaitmen W meets
sarily contain barharouS AhCrOns that human
rudeness has ever produced with human nneers Inc
capIta the iron shafts i'll any railway station Iar li
stance things 10 make man wish, for shame OF ms
species that he had been born dos or bee ESer ith
r s-I have no doubt your geological department will
be wa done. and INV poor little cabinets VIII tnae your
oe;ter advantage but would be entirely
lost II united with il.
Mr W Bragges remark on this is that though
disregard for Mr.. RuskIn is great ne cannot hep
thinking that much learning hath made HIM
mad The shrleks that echo through the local
papers are pitched IN much the same key Man
chester and Sheffield naturally enough dslke 10 be
told that tier art productions are baIbarous aDor-
tions They may ind balm for their wounds III me
DAILY Tceqraph which comes near TO Gead as
anything know of il these mOGcrn days and Is be-
sides always ready TO play the Good samaritan TO
any Philistne IN distress. Nh RuskIn has always
been a puzzle to the D. Tt use the initials partly
from habit partly for shOrtuess sake ana partly as
an EXPRESSION of aiectOnate familiarity. It's attl-
tude toward him varies, but may on the whole ne
described as Of patrOuizlne good VIII. lhlS IS
the H. r. is convinced the best Of all possible worlds
and Though Nj Ruskin would have been il some
respects . NLtfFli pti>oH nav tii" i'"ii"i ''N'i
consulted about uim he is nevertheless 10 he made
the most of his errors ana foles 10 Ice pointed out
firmly though kindly: hIs eXcellencies 10 he kindly
acknowled From the midst Of Mr.. Rusklns
abundant crop of nettles. from among All MS
whms oddities. paradOxes and preludlces IL is
possible to pick out a few flowers OF genuine
sagacitv. He is a man of genius VINO has much 10
saw and saws II great deal too well. 1t IS not to
be supposed that he has the slightest wish Wantony
10 insult OF dlsparaCe the industry OF Shefhed.
Between hirn and Sheffield the D. T. interposes
benefccnt Interpretation Of MT. kuskns harsh
words and "A theory Of its about art which Will
certainly drive Mr Ruskln mad if he be not. as Mr..
Bracge coniecturcs mad already. When Mr. RUskln
said the iron work of Sheffield was a barharous
abortion what he really meant was that 1t Is DIS
tingushed 10y technical beauty that ls beauty con
sidcred from the point Of view of symmetrical
fitness. lie meant in short that nothing III Fioren-
tine art of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was
raual tO Sheffield ait III the nineteenth:
Benvenuto Ceini. Maso Fincuerra were wonderful
artists but hev might have worked Dcr fingers to me
bone they cund have produced anything 80 lrconI-
sded nenkniie shcineId .l"r Sheffield four
pronscd fork. sheffield baanco c-"nded tabe-hnfe
This il j. 10 interpret TO have ideas on art
The Naily Teicgaph has done and said many wonder
full Things in it, time. but It Is impossible 10 90 be-
yond this The discovery that there II more beauty
in "A Sneieid four-psOnGed forG than III Ceillnis
statucttc Of Jupiter III the acF Of FlniZuerra Is
probably the highest perceptlve effort et which hu-
man nelliecnce-or that form of II which iourshes
in F1ee-st-is capable. have but one fault to find
with the new oracle. Ii is TOO modest. Ii assures
Mr. Ruskin that with little more patience and
liberation hc might arrive the conclusion that we
are making slow but certain progress. To most per
Sons Il will seem that the progress Il even too RAPID
rapid enough have turned the mead OF IT'S author
1t H. however. painful to find evidence IN this
same article that The Daily Telegraph studies oi MI
Ruskin are less thorough than they might he. HIS
printed deliycrances we are told. being mainly con-
fined to a mysterious publication entitled "rors
ClavIgcra." are few and far bet Veen. One fears
that Fors Is taken in at the office ID fleer-st
The truth II. that Mr. Ruskins Letters 10 the
WOrkrnen and LaboTers of Great Britain" 10 which
he chooses 70 give that mysterious title. have been
pnbl,hed regularly every month for nearly five
wears pas: that during this period seven or eight
volumes il may be now OF the collected,
revised and in fact rewritten edition OF hls works
have appeared; that besides 'FOrs" he has been
carving on at least three other serial publications.
that he resumed only the last season his Notes on
the Royal academy" which had been suspended
since think. 1897; that new and final ISSUES OF
The Modern Painters ana stones OF Venice, IN
tbeir roval svo illustrated form with Prcfaccs,
were given 70 the public last year that Notes on
the Construction of Sheepfclds . has only tins week
rcappeared in pamphlet form. with new Preface;
and that as remarked above, III. Ruskn Is every
now and then sending letter TO some newspaper
with the very trankest possible expression of ms
views on whatever subject interests hlm for the
moment He is one of the most cOpiOus and frequent
of living writc,s-Gs he is III many respects. one
of the greatest. Yet the paper which undertakes
10 interpret him 10 the pubic complains that his