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256 XXI. TREATMENT OF ORNAMENT. TECORATION.
expressed, and every blossom has a thrilling sense of its responsibility down into its tiniest stamen, you may take your
terminal line away if you will. No need for it any more.
The commandment is written on the heart of the thing.
§ xxxni. Then, besides this obedience to external law, there
is the obedience to internal headship, which constitutes the
unity of ornament, of which I think enough has been said for
my present purpose in the chapter on Unity in the second
vol. of " Modern Painters." But I hardly know whether to
arrange as an expression of a divine law, or a representation
of a physical fact, the alternation of shade with light which,
in equal succession, forms one of the chief elements of continuous ornament, and in some peculiar ones, such as dentils and
billet mouldings, is the source of their only charm. The opposition of good and evil, the antagonism of the entire human
system (so ably worked out by Lord Lindsay), the alternation
of labor with rest, the mingling of life with death, or the
actual physical fact of the division of light from darkness, and
of the falling and rising of night and day, are all typified or
represented by these chains of shade and light of which the
eye never wearies, though their true meaning may never occur
to the thoughts.
§ xxxiv. The next question respecting the arrangement of
ornament is one closely connected also with its quantity. The
system of creation is one in which " God's creatures leap not,
but express a feast, where all the guests sit close, and nothing
wants." It is also a feast, where there is nothing redundant.
So, then, in distributing our ornament, there must never be
any sense of gap or blank, neither any sense of there being a
single member, or fragment of a member, which could be
spared. Whatever has nothing to do, whatever could go without being missed, is not ornament; it is deformity and encumbrance. Away with it. And, on the other hand, care
must be taken either to diffuse the ornament which we permit,
in due relation over the whole building, or so to concentrate it,
as never to leave a sense of its having got into knots, and
curdled upon some points, and left the rest of the building
| Title | The stones of Venice - 1 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000293 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 256 XXI. TREATMENT OF ORNAMENT. TECORATION. expressed, and every blossom has a thrilling sense of its responsibility down into its tiniest stamen, you may take your terminal line away if you will. No need for it any more. The commandment is written on the heart of the thing. § xxxni. Then, besides this obedience to external law, there is the obedience to internal headship, which constitutes the unity of ornament, of which I think enough has been said for my present purpose in the chapter on Unity in the second vol. of " Modern Painters." But I hardly know whether to arrange as an expression of a divine law, or a representation of a physical fact, the alternation of shade with light which, in equal succession, forms one of the chief elements of continuous ornament, and in some peculiar ones, such as dentils and billet mouldings, is the source of their only charm. The opposition of good and evil, the antagonism of the entire human system (so ably worked out by Lord Lindsay), the alternation of labor with rest, the mingling of life with death, or the actual physical fact of the division of light from darkness, and of the falling and rising of night and day, are all typified or represented by these chains of shade and light of which the eye never wearies, though their true meaning may never occur to the thoughts. § xxxiv. The next question respecting the arrangement of ornament is one closely connected also with its quantity. The system of creation is one in which " God's creatures leap not, but express a feast, where all the guests sit close, and nothing wants." It is also a feast, where there is nothing redundant. So, then, in distributing our ornament, there must never be any sense of gap or blank, neither any sense of there being a single member, or fragment of a member, which could be spared. Whatever has nothing to do, whatever could go without being missed, is not ornament; it is deformity and encumbrance. Away with it. And, on the other hand, care must be taken either to diffuse the ornament which we permit, in due relation over the whole building, or so to concentrate it, as never to leave a sense of its having got into knots, and curdled upon some points, and left the rest of the building |
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