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186 SECOND PERIOD. HI. NATURALISM.
§ xlviii. The third form of error is when the men of facts
envy design: that is to say, when, having only imitative
powers, they refuse to employ those powers upon the visible
world around them ; but, having been taught that composition
is the end of art, strive to obtain the inventive powers which
nature has denied them, study nothing but the works of reputed designers, and perish in a fungous growth of plagiarism
and laws of art.
Here was the great error of the beginning of this century;
it is the error of the meanest kind of men that employ themselves in painting, and it is the most fatal of all, rendering
those who fall into it utterly useless, incapable of helping the
world with either truth or fancy, while, in all probability, they
deceive it by base resemblances of both, until it hardly recognizes truth or fancy when they regally exist.
§ xlix. The fourth form of error is when the men of design envy facts ; that is to say, when the temptation of closely
imitating nature leads them to forget their own proper ornamental function, and when they lose the power of the composition for the sake of graphic truth ; as, for instance, in the
hawthorn moulding so often spoken of round the porch of
Bourges Cathedral, which, though very lovely, might perhaps,
as we saw above, have been better, if the old builder, in his
excessive desire to make it look like hawthorn, had not painted
it green.
§ l. It is, however, carefully to be noted, that the two
morbid conditions to which the men of facts are liable are
much more dangerous and harmful than those to which the
men of design are liable. The morbid state of men of design
injures themselves only; that of the men of facts injures the
whole world. The Chinese porcelain-painter is, indeed, not
so great a man as he might be, but he does not want to break
everything that is not porcelain; but the modern English fact-
hunter, despising design, wants to destroy everything that does
not agree with his own notions of truth, and becomes the most
dangerous and despicable of iconoclasts, excited by egotism instead of religion. Again : the Bourges sculptor, painting his
| Title | The stones of Venice - 2 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000216 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 186 SECOND PERIOD. HI. NATURALISM. § xlviii. The third form of error is when the men of facts envy design: that is to say, when, having only imitative powers, they refuse to employ those powers upon the visible world around them ; but, having been taught that composition is the end of art, strive to obtain the inventive powers which nature has denied them, study nothing but the works of reputed designers, and perish in a fungous growth of plagiarism and laws of art. Here was the great error of the beginning of this century; it is the error of the meanest kind of men that employ themselves in painting, and it is the most fatal of all, rendering those who fall into it utterly useless, incapable of helping the world with either truth or fancy, while, in all probability, they deceive it by base resemblances of both, until it hardly recognizes truth or fancy when they regally exist. § xlix. The fourth form of error is when the men of design envy facts ; that is to say, when the temptation of closely imitating nature leads them to forget their own proper ornamental function, and when they lose the power of the composition for the sake of graphic truth ; as, for instance, in the hawthorn moulding so often spoken of round the porch of Bourges Cathedral, which, though very lovely, might perhaps, as we saw above, have been better, if the old builder, in his excessive desire to make it look like hawthorn, had not painted it green. § l. It is, however, carefully to be noted, that the two morbid conditions to which the men of facts are liable are much more dangerous and harmful than those to which the men of design are liable. The morbid state of men of design injures themselves only; that of the men of facts injures the whole world. The Chinese porcelain-painter is, indeed, not so great a man as he might be, but he does not want to break everything that is not porcelain; but the modern English fact- hunter, despising design, wants to destroy everything that does not agree with his own notions of truth, and becomes the most dangerous and despicable of iconoclasts, excited by egotism instead of religion. Again : the Bourges sculptor, painting his |
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