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202 SECOND PERIOD. LV. GROTESQUENESS.
refinement of mind, but as a proof of the best possible direction of this refinement, that the tendency of the Gothic to the
expression of vegetative life is to be admired. That sentence
of Genesis, " I have given thee every green herb for meat,"
like all the rest of the book, has a profound symbolical as well
as a literal meaning. It is not merely the nourishment of the
body, but the food of the soul, that is intended. The green
herb is, of all nature, that which is most essential to the healthy
spiritual life of man. Most of us do not need fine scenery;
the precipice and the mountain peak are not intended to be
seen by all men,—perhaps their power is greatest over those
who are unaccustomed to them. But trees, and fields, and
flowers were made for all, and are necessary for all. God has
connected the labor which is essential to the bodily sustenance,
with the pleasures which are healthiest for the heart; and
while He made the ground stubborn, He made its herbage
fragrant, and its blossoms fair. The proudest architecture
that man can build has no higher honor than to bear the image
and recall the memory of that grass of the field which is, at
once, the type and the support of his existence; the goodly
building is then most glorious when it is sculptured into the
likeness of the leaves of Paradise; and the great Gothic spirit,
as we showed it to be noble in its disquietude, is also noble in its
hold of nature; it is, indeed, like the dove of Noah, in that she
found no rest upon the face of the waters,—but like her in this
also, " Lo, in her mouth was an olive branch, plucked off."
§ lxxii. The fourth essential element of the Gothic mind
was above stated to be the sense of the Grotesque ; but I shall
defer the endeavor to define this most curious and subtle character until we have occasion to examine one of the divisions
of the Renaissance schools, which was morbidly influenced by
it (Vol. III. Chap. III.). It is the less necessary to insist upon
it here, because every reader familiar with Gothic architecture
must understand what I mean, and will, I believe, have no
hesitation in admitting that the tendency to delight in fantastic
and ludicrous, as well as in sublime, images, is a universal
instinct of the Gothic imagination.
| 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 | 00000230 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 202 SECOND PERIOD. LV. GROTESQUENESS. refinement of mind, but as a proof of the best possible direction of this refinement, that the tendency of the Gothic to the expression of vegetative life is to be admired. That sentence of Genesis, " I have given thee every green herb for meat," like all the rest of the book, has a profound symbolical as well as a literal meaning. It is not merely the nourishment of the body, but the food of the soul, that is intended. The green herb is, of all nature, that which is most essential to the healthy spiritual life of man. Most of us do not need fine scenery; the precipice and the mountain peak are not intended to be seen by all men,—perhaps their power is greatest over those who are unaccustomed to them. But trees, and fields, and flowers were made for all, and are necessary for all. God has connected the labor which is essential to the bodily sustenance, with the pleasures which are healthiest for the heart; and while He made the ground stubborn, He made its herbage fragrant, and its blossoms fair. The proudest architecture that man can build has no higher honor than to bear the image and recall the memory of that grass of the field which is, at once, the type and the support of his existence; the goodly building is then most glorious when it is sculptured into the likeness of the leaves of Paradise; and the great Gothic spirit, as we showed it to be noble in its disquietude, is also noble in its hold of nature; it is, indeed, like the dove of Noah, in that she found no rest upon the face of the waters,—but like her in this also, " Lo, in her mouth was an olive branch, plucked off." § lxxii. The fourth essential element of the Gothic mind was above stated to be the sense of the Grotesque ; but I shall defer the endeavor to define this most curious and subtle character until we have occasion to examine one of the divisions of the Renaissance schools, which was morbidly influenced by it (Vol. III. Chap. III.). It is the less necessary to insist upon it here, because every reader familiar with Gothic architecture must understand what I mean, and will, I believe, have no hesitation in admitting that the tendency to delight in fantastic and ludicrous, as well as in sublime, images, is a universal instinct of the Gothic imagination. |
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