P R Q.3 AAV6 05 '■'■"■ -:^ Mm!&& m ■': :. MmmMM ••■-.•■■•.■■'•:• MR BHsH LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Shelf jtCuC UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. "v CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN Cameos from Ruskin SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY MARY E. CARDWILL ( - NEW YORK u \~Q2^fc ' CHARLES E. MERRILL & CO. 52 and 54 Lafayette Place V C3 Copyright, 1892, by Charles E. Merrill & Co. Press of J. J. Little & Co. Astor Place, New York In these books of mine, their distinctive character as essays on art, is their bringing everything to a root in human passion or human hope. — Modern Painters. PREFACE. The preparation of this book was begun with the purpose of making each selection a representation of Mr. Ruskin's two-fold work : as the greatest of art critics and as a master of ethics. This purpose has not been strictly adhered to, but the drift of the book, as a whole, and of most of the selections, will be found to bear directly on the funda- mental principle of all Mr. Ruskin's criticism — that art is inseparably connected with char- acter and conduct, or morality, and that all great art rests upon a basis of what is intrin- sically good. The book will have accomplished its mis- sion if it leads any of its readers, especially young readers who are seriously interested in art, to long for and seek all of the art- wisdom Mr. Ruskin offers them, in each and all of his wonderful books. For permission to use the selections, the 8 PREFACE. compiler is indebted to the courtesy of the publishers, whose beautiful authorized edi- tion, the Brantwood, has given to Mr. Rus- kin's volumes an almost ideally appropriate dress. M. E. C. CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN GREATNESS IN ART . . . Whatever may be the means, or whatever the more immediate end of any- kind of art, all of it that is good agrees in this, that it is the expression of one soul talking to another, and is precious according to the soul that utters it. Stones of Venice All art is great, and good, and true, only so far as it is distinctively the work of manhood in its entire and highest sense . . . not the work of limbs and fingers, but of the soul. Stones of Venice . . . The value of every work of art is ex- actly in the ratio of the quantity of human- ity which has been put into it, and legibly expressed upon it forever. Stones of Venice IO CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN Art is great always by meeting its condi- tions in the simplest way. Aratra Pentelici This is the sign of the greatest art — to part voluntarily with its greatness : — to make itself poor and unnoticed ; but so to exalt and set forth its theme that you may be fain to see the theme instead of it. Aratra Pentelici So far from art's being immoral, little else except art is moral. Aratra Pentelici All things that are worth doing in art, are interesting and attractive when they are done. . . . All good art has the capacity of pleasing. Lectures on Architecture and Painting Greatness in art is . . . not a teachable or gainable thing, but the expression of the mind of a God-made great man. Modern Painters CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN II . . . The difference between great and mean art lies . . . wholly in the nobleness of the end to which the effort of the painter is addressed. Modern Painters Greatness of style consists . . . first in the habitual choice of subjects of thought which involve wide interests and profound passions. Modern Painters Choice of subject is, of course, only availa- ble as a criterion of the rank of a painter, when it comes from the heart. Modern Painters All great art is delicate art, and all coarse art is bad art. Modern Painters Art, properly so called, is no recreation ; it cannot be learned at spare moments, nor pursued when we have nothing better to do. . . . To advance it men's lives must be given, and to receive it their hearts. Modern Painters 12 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN . . . Nothing in great work is ever either fortuitous or contentious. Modern Painters Every great work stands alone. Modern Painters The vastest thing [is] noble chiefly for what it includes; and the meanest for what it accomplishes. Modern Painters As all lovely art is rooted in virtue, so it bears the fruit of virtue, and is didactic in its own nature ... it is didactic chiefly by being beautiful with haunting thought, no less than with form, and full of myths that can be read only with the heart. Queen of the Air Every work of right art has a tendency to reproduce the ethical state which first de- veloped it. Queen of the Air All great art represents something that it sees and believes in ; nothing unseen or un- credited. Seven Lamps of Architecture CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN 1 3 . . . An art, low in itself, may be made noble by the human strength and being which a great man will pour into it ; and an art, great in itself, be made mean by the meanness of the mind occupied in it. Stones of Venice .... The entire vitality of art depends upon its having for its object to state a true thing or adorn a serviceable one. Val d'Arno Without mingling of heart-passion with hand-power, no art is possible. The highest art unites both in their intensest degrees: the action of the hand at its finest, with that of the heart at its fullest. Two Paths . . . With absolute precision from highest to lowest, the fineness of the possible art is an index of the moral purity and majesty of the emotion it expresses. Lectures on Art Painting, or art generally, as such, with all its technicalities, difficulties, and particular ends, is nothing but a noble and expressive 14 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN language, invaluable as a vehicle of thought, but by itself nothing. Modern Painters The picture which has the nobler and more numerous ideas, however awkwardly expressed, is a greater and better picture than that which has less noble and less numerous ideas, however beautifully expressed. No weight, nor mass, nor beauty of execution can outweigh one grain or fragment of thought. Modern Painters Mean something and say something . . . and trust to time and your honest labor to invest your work gradually, in such measure and kind as your genius can reach, with the tenderness that comes of love, and the mys- tery that comes of power. Modern Painters Fragrant tissues of flowers, golden circlets of clouds, are only fair when they meet the fondness of human thoughts, and glorify human visions of Heaven. Modern Painters CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN I 5 . . . There is no such thing as " fine " or " high " art. All art is a low and common thing, and what we indeed respect is not art at all, but instinct or inspiration expressed by the help of art. Stones of Venice EXECUTION Nothing is so bad a symptom in the work of young artists, as too much dexterity of handling ; for it is a sign that they are satis- fied with their work, and have tried to do nothing more than they were able to do. Their work should be full of failures; for these are signs of efforts. Modern Painters Wherever . . . difficulty has been over- come there is excellence. Modern Painters No mode of execution ought to be taught to a young artist as better than another; he ought to understand the truth of what he has to do, felicitous execution will follow as a matter of course. Modern Painters CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN 17 Power is never wasted. Whatever power has been employed, produces excellence in proportion to its own dignity and exertion. Modern Painters The artist has done nothing till he has concealed himself— the art is imperfect which is visible. . . . The harp of the minstrel is untruly touched, if his own glory is all that It records. Modern Painters Exactly in proportion as an artist is cer- tain of his end, will he be swift and simple in his means; and, as he is accurate and deep in his knowledge, will he be refined and pre- cise in his touch. Modern Painters "Finishing" means in art simply "telling more truth;" and that whatever we have in any sort begun wisely, it is good to finish thoroughly. Modern Painters . . . When a thing is once well done in this world, it can never be done over again. Modern Painters I 8 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN Every natural mode is instinctively em- ployed, and instinctively understood, wher- ever there is true feeling ; and this instinct is above law. Stones of Venice . . . The strength of materials, or of men, or of minds, is always most available when it is applied as closely as possible to a single point. Stones of Venice . . . Never . . . demand exact finish, when it does not lead to a noble end. Stones of Venice . . . Demand no refinement of execution where there is no thought, for that is slave's work unredeemed. Stones of Venice Always look for invention first, and after that, for such execution as will help the in- vention, and as the inventor is capable of without painful effort, and no more. Stones of Venice ig . . . Never imagine there is any reason to be proud of anything that may be accom- plished by patience and sand-] I Venice Whoever can design small things perfectly can design what he choo Lecture. If we always see rightly and mean rightly, we shall get on, though the hand may stag- ger a little ; but if we mean wrongly, or mean nothing, it does not matter how firm the hand True boldness and power are only to be gained with care. of Draw We must take care to be right, at what- ever cost of pains ; and then gradually we shall find we can be right with freedom. Elements of Drawing 20 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN Nothing is more strange in art than the way that chance and materials seem to favour you, when once you have thoroughly conquered them. Elements of Drawing WORK WELL DONE, LIFE WON For every piece of wise work done, so much life is granted ; for every piece of fool- ish work, nothing; for every piece of wicked work, so much death is allotted. MUNERA PULVERIS Without the resolution in your hearts to do good work, so long as your right hands have motion in them, and to do it whether the issue be that you die or live, no life worthy the name will ever be possible to you; while, in once forming the resolution that your work is to be well done, life is really won, here and forever. Time and Tide Labor without joy is base. Labor without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labor is base. Joy without labor is base. Time and Tide 22 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN However mean and inconsiderate the act, there is something in the well-doing of it, which has fellowship with the noblest forms of manly virtue. Seven Lamps of Architecture INDIVIDUAL FIRE This is the glory of Gothic Architecture, that every jot and tittle, every point and niche of it, affords room, fuel, and focus for individual fire. Stones of Venice ... In our dealings with the souls of other men, we are to take care how we check, by severe requirement of narrow caution, efforts which might otherwise lead to a noble issue; and still more to withhold our admi- ration from great excellences, because they are mingled with rough faults. Stones of Venice The virtue of originality which men strive after, is not newness as they vainly think, . . . it is only genuineness; it all depends on this single glorious faculty of getting to the spring of things and working out from 24 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN that ; it is the coolness and clearness and deliciousness of the water fresh from the fountain head, opposed to the thick, hot, unrefreshing drainage from other men's meadows. Modern Painters So long as men work as men, putting their hearts into what they do, and doing their best, it matters not how bad workmen they may be, there will be that in the handling which is above all price. Seven Lamps of Architecture GOOD WORK NOT A COPY . . . All that is highest in art, all that is creative and imaginative, is formed and cre- ated by every great master for himself, and cannot be repeated or imitated by others. Modern Painters . . . Let us understand this plain truth, common to all work of man, that, if it be good work, it is not a copy, nor anything done by rule, but a freshly and divinely imagined thing. Stones of Venice . . . The difference between the spirit of touch of the man who is inventing, and of the man who is obeying directions, is often all the difference between a great and a com- mon work of art. Stones of Venice . . . The second most essential element of the Gothic spirit, [is] that ... it not only 26 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN dared but delighted in, the infringement of servile principle. Stones of Venice All imitation has its origin in vanity. Poetry of Architecture . . . The essence of composition lies pre- cisely in the fact of its being unteachable, in its being the operation of an individual mind of range and power exalted above others. Elements of Drawing The man who without copying, and by his own true and original power, can arrange a cluster of rose leaves nobly, can design any thing. Lectures on Architecture and Painting TRUTH . . . No picture can be good which deceives by its imitation, for the very reason that noth- ing can be beautiful which is not true. Modern Painters There can be no such thing as an orna- mental falsehood. Modern Painters . . Imagination . . . the true foundation of all art . . . exercises eternal authority over men's minds ... the base of whose authority and being is its perpetual thirst of truth and purpose to be true. Modern Painters No saying will teach the truth. Nothing but doing. Modern Painters . . No artist can be graceful, imagina- 28 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN tive, or original, unless he be truthful . . . the pursuit of beauty, instead of leading us away from truth, increases the desire for it and the necessity of it ten-fold. Modern Painters . . . The right wit of drawing is like the right wit of conversation, not hyperbole, not violence, not frivolity, only well-expressed, laconic truth. Modern Painters ... A false thought is worse than the want of thought, and therefore is not art. Modern Painters . . . Writers and painters of the Classic school set down nothing but what is known to be true, and set it down in the perfectest manner possible in their way, and are thence- forward authorities from whom there is no appeal. Val d'Arno All the fair devices that ever were fancied are not worth a lie. Seven Lamps of Architecture cam uskik ; . . . The truth of nature is a part of the truth of God ; to him who does not search it out, darkness, as it 1*5 to him who does finity. GREAT ART ACCEPTS NATURE AS SHE IS . . . Though the absence of the love of nature is not an assured condemnation, its presence is an invariable sign of goodness of heart and justness of moral perception, though by no means of moral practice. Modern Painters . . . For one who is blinded to the works of God by profound abstraction or lofty pur- pose, tens of thousands have their eyes sealed by vulgar selfishness, and their intelligence crushed by impious care. Modern Painters It is one of Nature's most beautiful adap- tations that she is never out of proportion with herself. Poetry of Architecture Great art accepts nature as she is, but CAMEOS FROM RUSKLN 31 directs the eyes and thoughts to what is most perfect in her. Mora Every alteration of the features of na: has its origin either in powerless indolence or blind audacity, in the folly which for^ or the insolence which desecrates, works which it is the pride of angels to know, and r privilege to love. Modern I He who walks humbly with nature will seldom be in danger of losing sight of art. Modern Paint- Natui mmeasurably superior to all that the human mind can conceive, that every departure from her is a fall beneath . Modern Paint Nature will show you nothing if you yourself up for her master. But forget your- self and try to obey her, and you will find obedience easier and happier than you think. El?' High art . . . 0: cither in altering 32 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN nor improving nature ; but in seeking throughout nature for " whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are pure." Modern Painters The more a painter accepts nature as he finds it, the more unexpected beauty he dis- covers in what he at first despised. Modern Painters BEAUTY . . . Every truth, of nature is more or less beautiful. Modern Painters Schools of art become higher in exact proportion to the degree in which they ap- prehend and love the beautiful. Modern Painters ... Of the intellectual and moral virtues, the moral are those which are attended with most beauty, so that the gentle eye of the gazelle is fairer to look upon than the more keen glance of men, if it be unkind. Modern Painters Great art dwells on all that is beautiful ; false art omits or changes all that is ugly. Modern Painters . Those forms will be most beautiful 3 34 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN ( . . . leaving typical beauty out of the ques- tion) which exhibit most of power, and seem capable of most quick and joyous sensation. Modern Painters . . . Beauty has been appointed by the Deity to be one of the elements by which the human soul is continually sustained. Lectures on Architecture and Painting . . . There is no other definition of the beautiful, nor of any subject of delight to the aesthetic faculty, than that it is what one noble spirit has created, seen and felt by another of similar or equal nobility. Aratra Pentelici REPOSE There is . . . no test more unfailing of the greatness of artistical treatment than that of the appearance of repose. ... It is the sign alike of the supreme knowledge which is incapable of surprise, the supreme power which is incapable of labor, the su- preme volition which is incapable of change. Modern Painters . . . Respecting repose, ... no work of art can be great without it, and all art is great in proportion to the appearance of it. It is the most unfailing test of beauty, whether of matter or of motion, nothing can be ignoble that possesses it, nothing right that has it not, and in strict proportion to its appearance in the work is the majesty of mind to be inferred in the artificer. Modern Painters . . . The least appearance of violence or extravagance, of the want of moderation and 36 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN restraint, is . . . destructive of all beauty whatsoever in everything, color, form, motion, language, or thought, giving rise to that which in color we call glaring, in form in- elegant, in motion ungraceful, in language coarse, in thought undisciplined, in all un- chastened. Modern Painters . . . Orderly balance and arrangement are essential to the perfect operation of the more earnest and solemn qualities of the beautiful, as being heavenly in their nature, and con- trary to the violence and disorganization of sin, so that the seeking of them and submis- sion to them is always marked in minds that have been subjected to high moral discipline, constant in all great religious painters to the degree of being an offence and a scorn to men of less tuned and tranquil feeling. Modern Painters IMAGINATION . . . All that nature does is imaginative, that is, perfect as a whole, and made up of imperfect features. Modern Painters . . . The virtue of the imagination is its reaching by intuitions and intensity of gaze . . . a more essential truth than is seen at the surface of things. Modern Painters . . . The very essence of the imagination is . . . the seeing to the heart. Modern Painters Only perfectness of mind, unity, depth, decision, the highest qualities in fine, of the intellect, will form the imagination. Modern Painters As much truth as possible. . . . But truth 38 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN so presented, that it will need the help of the imagination to make it real. Modern Painters . . . Nothing is so great a proof of real im- agination and invention, as the appearance that nothing has been imagined or invented. Modern Painters Be assured of the great truth — that what is impossible in reality is ridiculous in fancy. Modern Painters The imagination is always right. ... So it is throughout art ... if anything be wrong it is not the imagination's fault, but some in- ferior faculty's, which would have its foolish say in the matter, and meddled with the imagination. Modern Painters VITAL VARIATION As natural form is varied, so must beauti- ful ornament be varied. You are not an artist by referring nature into deathful same- ness, but by animating your copy of her into vital variation. Val d'Arno Nothing can be natural which is monot- onous ; nothing true which tells only one story. Modern Painters ... It is one of the eternal principles of nature, that she will not have one line nor color, nor one position nor atom of space without a change in it. Modern Painters . . . All repetition is degradation of . . . art ; it reduces head-work to hand-work ; and indicates something like persuasion on the part of the artist that nature is exhaustible, or art perfectible. Modern Painters 40 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN . . . Nature contrives never to repeat her- self, . . . the surface of water is not a mock- ery, but a new view of what is above it. Modern Painters Great art . . . does not say the same thing over and over again ... to repeat itself is no more a characteristic of genius in marble than it is of genius in print. Stones of Venice . . . No art can be noble which is incapa- ble of expression of thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change. Lectures on Architecture and Painting AS THE MADE THING IS GOOD OR BAD, SO IS THE MAKER OE IT You may read the characters of men, and of nations, in their art as in a mirror. . . . From the least to the greatest, as the made thing is good or bad, so is the maker of it. Queen of the Air Let the natural mind be elevated in char- acter, and it will naturally become pure in its conceptions ; let it be simple in its de- sires, and it will be beautiful in its ideas ; let it be modest in feeling, and it will not be insolent in stone. Stones of Venice . . . Art is valuable or otherwise, only as it expresses the personality, activity, and living perception of a good and great human soul. Stones of Venice . . . Every increase of noble enthusiasm in your living spirit will be measured by the 42 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN reflection of its light upon the works of your hands. Elements of Drawing Men treat their subjects nobly only when they themselves become noble. Study of Architecture Art, national or individual, is the result of a long course of previous life and training ; a necessary result, if that life has been loyal, and an impossible one, if it has been base. Study of Architecture A nation cannot be affected by any vice, or weakness, without expressing it, legibly, and forever, either in bad art, or by want of art. Crown of Wild Olives The faults of a work of art are the faults of its workman, and its virtues his virtues. Queen of the Air . . . Art is the work of the whole spirit of man ; and as that spirit is, so is the deed of it. Queen of the Air ART-GIFT . . . Art-gift and amiability of disposition are two different things. . . . But great art implies the union of both powers : it is the expression, by an art-gift, of a pure soul. Queen of the Air . . . The art-gift ... is only the result of the moral character of generations. Queen of the Air For the individual. . . . Let his art-gift be never so great, and cultivated to the height by the schools of a great race of men ; and it is still but a tapestry thrown over his own being and inner soul ; and the bearing of it will show, infallibly, whether it hangs on a man, or on a skeleton. Queen of the Air . . . The true artist has that inspiration in him which is above all law, or rather, which 44 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN is continually working out such magnificent and perfect obedience to supreme law, as can in no wise be rendered by line and rule. Stones of Venice Common talkers use the word " magic " of a great painter's power without knowing what they mean by it. They mean a great truth. That power is magical ; so magical, that, well understood, no enchanter's work could be more miraculous or more appalling. Modern Painters The test is absolute, inevitable. — Is your art first with you ? Then you are artists. Two Paths . . . The gifts which distinctively mark the artist — without which he must be feeble in life, forgotten in death . . . are those of sympathy and imagination. Two Paths A MAN OF REAL POWER . . . No difficulty or restraint ever hap- pened to a man of real power, but his power was the more manifested in contending with, or conquering it. Stones of Venice ... If the man be a painter indeed, and have the gift of colors and lines, what is in him will come from his hand freely and faith- fully ; and the language itself is so difficult and so vast, that the mere possession of it argues the man is great, and that his works are worth reading. Stones of Venice No great man ever stops working till he has reached his point of failure . . . his mind is always in advance of his powers of execu- tion, and the latter will now and then give way in trying to follow. Stones of Venice 46 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN . . . The thoroughly great men are those who have done everything thoroughly, and who, in a word, have never despised any- thing, however small, of God's making. Modern Painters Capacity means breadth of glance, under- standing of the relations of things, and in- vention, and these are rare and precious. Modern Painters . . . The moment he (the artist) can make us think that he has done nothing, that nature has done all — that moment he becomes ennobled, he proves himself great. . . . He becomes great when he becomes invisible. Modern Painters Men of any high mental power must be serious, whether in ancient or modern days. Modern Painters . . . The first test of a truly great man is his humility. . . . All great men not only know their business, but usually know that they know it ; and are not only right in their CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN 47 main opinions, but usually know that they are right in them ; only they do not think much of themselves on that account . . . and they see something divine in every other man. Modern Painters All . . . first-rate men are lonely men . . . the particular work they did was by them done forever in the best way. Modern Painters ... A great man never so limits himself to one thing, as that we shall say, " That's all he can do." Modern Painters He [a painter] is great if ... he has laid open noble truths, or aroused noble emo- tions. Modern Painters The slightest manifestation of jealousy or self-complacency is enough to mark a second- rate character of intellect. Modern Painters In painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter will be your man- 48 CAMEOS FROM RUSKIN ner, and the fewer your words ; and in paint- ing as in all the arts and acts of life, the secret of a high success will be found not in a fretful and various excellence, but in a quiet singleness of a justly chosen aim. Modern Painters . . . All the greatest men live in their pur- pose and effort more than it is possible for them to live in reality. If you would praise them worthily, it is for what they have con- ceived and felt ; not merely for what they have done. The Eagle's Nest With all thoroughly great men, their strength is not seen at first, precisely because they unite, in due place and measure, every great quality. Two Paths EDUCATION Education . . . is the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them. True education . . . has respect first to the ends which are proposable to the man or attainable by him, and secondly to the ma- terial of which the man is made. Stones of Venice An artist need not be a learned man . . . but he ought, if possible, to be an educated man : that is, one who has so trained him- self, or been trained, as to turn to the best and most courteous account whatever facul- ties or knowledge he has. Stones of Venice We no more live to know than we live to eat. We live to contemplate, enjoy, act, adore . . . We are to ask therefore, first, is the knowledge we would have fit food for us, 4 5