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III. GROTESQUE RENAISSANCE. 143
time to watch nature; but he never saw a serpent cross his
path, nor a bird flit across the sky, nor a lizard bask upon a
stone, without learning so much of the sublimity and inner
nature of each as will not suffer him thenceforth to conceive
them coldly. He may not be able to carve plumes or scales
well; but his creatures will bite and fly, for all that. The ignoble workman is the very reverse of this. He never felt,
never looked at nature; and if he endeavor to imitate the
work of the other, all his touches will be made at random, and
all his extravagances will be ineffective; he may knit brows,
and twist lips, and lengthen beaks, and sharpen teeth, but it
will be all in vain. He may make his creatures disgusting, but
never fearful.
§ xlix. There is, however, often another cause of difference
than this. The true grotesque being the expression of the repose or play of a serious mind, there is a false grotesque opposed to it, which is the result of the full exertio?i of a frivolous one. There is much grotesque which is wrought out with
exquisite care and pains, and as much labor given to it as if it
were of the noblest subject; so that the workman is evidently
no longer apathetic, and has no excuse for unconnectedness of
thought, or sudden unreasonable fear. If he awakens horror
now, it ought to be in some truly sublime form. His strength
is in his work; and he must not give way to sudden humor,
and fits of erratic fancy. If he does so, it must be because his
mind is naturally frivolous, or is for the time degraded into the
deliberate pursuit of frivolity. And herein lies the real distinction between the base grotesque of Raphael and the Renaissance, above alluded to, and the true Gothic grotesque.
Those grotesques or arabesques of the Yatican, and other such
work, which have become the patterns of ornamentation in
modern times, are the fruit of great minds degraded to base
objects. The care, skill, and science, applied to the distribution of the leaves, and the drawing of the figures, are intense,
admirable, and accurate; therefore, they ought to have produced a grand and serious work, not a tissue of nonsense. If
we can draw the human head perfectly, and are masters of its
| 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 | 00000159 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | III. GROTESQUE RENAISSANCE. 143 time to watch nature; but he never saw a serpent cross his path, nor a bird flit across the sky, nor a lizard bask upon a stone, without learning so much of the sublimity and inner nature of each as will not suffer him thenceforth to conceive them coldly. He may not be able to carve plumes or scales well; but his creatures will bite and fly, for all that. The ignoble workman is the very reverse of this. He never felt, never looked at nature; and if he endeavor to imitate the work of the other, all his touches will be made at random, and all his extravagances will be ineffective; he may knit brows, and twist lips, and lengthen beaks, and sharpen teeth, but it will be all in vain. He may make his creatures disgusting, but never fearful. § xlix. There is, however, often another cause of difference than this. The true grotesque being the expression of the repose or play of a serious mind, there is a false grotesque opposed to it, which is the result of the full exertio?i of a frivolous one. There is much grotesque which is wrought out with exquisite care and pains, and as much labor given to it as if it were of the noblest subject; so that the workman is evidently no longer apathetic, and has no excuse for unconnectedness of thought, or sudden unreasonable fear. If he awakens horror now, it ought to be in some truly sublime form. His strength is in his work; and he must not give way to sudden humor, and fits of erratic fancy. If he does so, it must be because his mind is naturally frivolous, or is for the time degraded into the deliberate pursuit of frivolity. And herein lies the real distinction between the base grotesque of Raphael and the Renaissance, above alluded to, and the true Gothic grotesque. Those grotesques or arabesques of the Yatican, and other such work, which have become the patterns of ornamentation in modern times, are the fruit of great minds degraded to base objects. The care, skill, and science, applied to the distribution of the leaves, and the drawing of the figures, are intense, admirable, and accurate; therefore, they ought to have produced a grand and serious work, not a tissue of nonsense. If we can draw the human head perfectly, and are masters of its |
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