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42 THIRD PERIOD. I. PRIDE OF SCIENCE.
to himself and his pupils, but that necessarily it must be so in
some degree; for only those who see him at work daily can
understand his small and multitudinous ways of practice.
These cannot verbally be explained to everybody, nor is it
needful that they should, only let them be concealed from
nobody who cares to see them; in which case, of course, his
attendant scholars will know them best. But all that can be
made public in matters of this kind should be so with all speed,
every artist throwing his discovery into the common stock, and
the whole body of artists taking such pains in this department
of science as that there shall be no unsettled questions
about any known material or method : that it shall be an
entirely ascertained and indisputable matter which is the best
white, and which the best brown; which the strongest canvas, and safest varnish; and which the shortest and most perfect way of doing everything known up to that time: and if
any one discovers a better, he is to make it public forthwith.
All of them taking care to embarrass themselves with no theories or reasons for anything, but to work empirically only: it
not being in any wise their business to know whether light
moves in rays or in waves; or whether the blue rays of the
spectrum move slower or faster than the rest; but simply to
know how many minutes and seconds such and such a powder
must be calcined, to give the brightest blue.
§ xv. Now it is perhaps the most exquisite absurdity of the
whole Renaissance system, that while it has encumbered the
artist with every species of knowledge that is of no use to himy
this one precious and necessary knowledge it has utterly lost.
There is not, I believe, at this moment, a single question which
could be put respecting pigments and methods, on which the
body of living artists would agree in their answers. The lives
of artists are passed in fruitless experiments; fruitless, because
undirected by experience and uncommunicated in their results.
Every man has methods of his own, which he knows to ba
insufficient, and yet jealously conceals from his fellow-workmen : every colorman has materials of his own, to which it is
rare that the artist can trust: and in the very front of the majes-
| 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 | 00000056 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 42 THIRD PERIOD. I. PRIDE OF SCIENCE. to himself and his pupils, but that necessarily it must be so in some degree; for only those who see him at work daily can understand his small and multitudinous ways of practice. These cannot verbally be explained to everybody, nor is it needful that they should, only let them be concealed from nobody who cares to see them; in which case, of course, his attendant scholars will know them best. But all that can be made public in matters of this kind should be so with all speed, every artist throwing his discovery into the common stock, and the whole body of artists taking such pains in this department of science as that there shall be no unsettled questions about any known material or method : that it shall be an entirely ascertained and indisputable matter which is the best white, and which the best brown; which the strongest canvas, and safest varnish; and which the shortest and most perfect way of doing everything known up to that time: and if any one discovers a better, he is to make it public forthwith. All of them taking care to embarrass themselves with no theories or reasons for anything, but to work empirically only: it not being in any wise their business to know whether light moves in rays or in waves; or whether the blue rays of the spectrum move slower or faster than the rest; but simply to know how many minutes and seconds such and such a powder must be calcined, to give the brightest blue. § xv. Now it is perhaps the most exquisite absurdity of the whole Renaissance system, that while it has encumbered the artist with every species of knowledge that is of no use to himy this one precious and necessary knowledge it has utterly lost. There is not, I believe, at this moment, a single question which could be put respecting pigments and methods, on which the body of living artists would agree in their answers. The lives of artists are passed in fruitless experiments; fruitless, because undirected by experience and uncommunicated in their results. Every man has methods of his own, which he knows to ba insufficient, and yet jealously conceals from his fellow-workmen : every colorman has materials of his own, to which it is rare that the artist can trust: and in the very front of the majes- |
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