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$0 THIRD PERIOD.
for brick, or forest for .timber,—jn,4he working of which she
intends other characters of the human mind to be developed,
and by the proper use of whick certain local advantages will
assuredly be attained, while the delightfulness and meaning
of the precious marbles will be felt more forcibly in the districts where they occur, or on the occasions when they may be
procured.
§ xlv. It can hardly be necessary to add, that, as the imitation of marbles interferes with and checks the knowledge of
geography and geology, so the imitation of wood interferes
with that of botany; and that our acquaintance with the
nature, uses, and manner of growth of the timber trees of our
own and of foreign countries, would probably, in the majority
of cases, become accurate and extensive, without any labor or
sacrifice of time, were not all inquiry checked, and all observation betrayed, by the wretched labors of the " Grainer."
§ xlvi. But this is not all. As the practice of imitation
retards knowledge, so also it retards art.
There is not a meaner occupation for the human mind than
the imitation of the stains and striae of marble and wood.
When engaged in any easy and simple mechanical occupation,
there is still some liberty for the mind to leave the literal
work; and the clash of the loom or the activity of the fingers
will not always prevent the thoughts from some happy expati-
ation in their own domains. But the grainer must think of
what he is doing; and veritable attention and care, and occasionally considerable skill, are consumed in the doing of a
more absolute nothing than I can name in any other department of painful idleness. I know not anything so humiliating as to see a human being, with arms and limbs complete,
and apparently a head, and assuredly a soul, yet into the hands
of which when you have put a brush and pallet, it cannot do
anything with them but imitate a piece of wood. It cannot
color, it has no ideas of color; it cannot draw, it has no ideas
of form; it cannot caricature, it has no ideas of humor. It is
incapable of anything beyond knots. All its achievement, the
entire result of the daily application of its imagination and
| Title | The stones of Venice - 3 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000044 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | $0 THIRD PERIOD. for brick, or forest for .timber,—jn,4he working of which she intends other characters of the human mind to be developed, and by the proper use of whick certain local advantages will assuredly be attained, while the delightfulness and meaning of the precious marbles will be felt more forcibly in the districts where they occur, or on the occasions when they may be procured. § xlv. It can hardly be necessary to add, that, as the imitation of marbles interferes with and checks the knowledge of geography and geology, so the imitation of wood interferes with that of botany; and that our acquaintance with the nature, uses, and manner of growth of the timber trees of our own and of foreign countries, would probably, in the majority of cases, become accurate and extensive, without any labor or sacrifice of time, were not all inquiry checked, and all observation betrayed, by the wretched labors of the " Grainer." § xlvi. But this is not all. As the practice of imitation retards knowledge, so also it retards art. There is not a meaner occupation for the human mind than the imitation of the stains and striae of marble and wood. When engaged in any easy and simple mechanical occupation, there is still some liberty for the mind to leave the literal work; and the clash of the loom or the activity of the fingers will not always prevent the thoughts from some happy expati- ation in their own domains. But the grainer must think of what he is doing; and veritable attention and care, and occasionally considerable skill, are consumed in the doing of a more absolute nothing than I can name in any other department of painful idleness. I know not anything so humiliating as to see a human being, with arms and limbs complete, and apparently a head, and assuredly a soul, yet into the hands of which when you have put a brush and pallet, it cannot do anything with them but imitate a piece of wood. It cannot color, it has no ideas of color; it cannot draw, it has no ideas of form; it cannot caricature, it has no ideas of humor. It is incapable of anything beyond knots. All its achievement, the entire result of the daily application of its imagination and |
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