ART.
NOTES ON MR. RUSKIN'S DRAWINGS.
[EXHIBITED AT 148 NEW BOND STREET.] [FIRST NOTICE.]
IT is much to be regretted that Mr. Ruskin did not choose s more commodious place for this Exhibition. It was difficult enough when the Turners alone were hung in these small rooms to see them properly, but now that there are another sixty draw- ings to be seen, the result is overcrowding and inextricable con- fusion. There is no practicable way of seeing several of the- Turner drawings except by sitting upon the floor, which method we saw a lady adopting recently ; and the attempt to follow, catalogue in band, the new works added by Mr. Ruskin—those- which we are about to notice—induces feelings of irritation very unsuitable for picture enjoyment. And besides all this, there is a picture-dealing air about the whole place, and divers-. intimations that photographs of this, engravings of that, or fac- similes of the other series of pictures may be subscribed for at the- desk. Is it hypercriticism to remark that these elements are- unsuitable for an exhibition like the present, and to suggest how much better it would have been if some adequately large room, untinctured with the flavour of the shop, had been chosen instead of the "Fine Art Society?"
However, what can't be cured must be endured, and we have only dwelt thus long on this aspect of the matter, because we feel) that the educational value of these works of Mr. Ruskin's, which should be very great, is likely to be seriously impaired by the cramped and uncomfortable way in which they have to be seen. We will take the collection in its catalogue order, and say a few words about each of the more notable works. First, however, it must be mentioned that by no means the whole sixty are drawings- from Mr. Ruskin's hand. On the contrary, some are photographs, some coloured prints, some drawings by his pupils or friends, and one or two are old engravings, illustrative of some point or pic- ture which be thought required elucidation. The object of this- exhibition being almost wholly educational, examples have been selected more for their significance of teaching than the glorifica- tion of the artist, and the collection is now actually and chiefly- what Mr. Ruskin describes it to be in his preface :—" A little autobiography of drawings, out of which it appeared to me that some useful points might be made evident respecting the service- of particular methods, or the danger of particular errors. What consistency of effort they show has been noted, as briefly as could, and the grounds on which I thought it necessary to pursue- some lines of study which cost me much labour and gave little reward, except in enabling me to understand the virtue of better work."
The first of these works is a water-colour of Conway Castle, made by the elder Mr. Ruskin, and is only interesting as a typical example of what water-colour drawing, or rather "tinting," was at one time, "the first tints being laid in grey, then the warm colour laid on the lights, and no " effects " of light, or of local colours, ever thought of. The next three examples are old Swiss prints, coloured by hand, worked on the same plan of shadow and warm light, but with a greater appreciation of bright colour and considerably more attention to detail ; the chief shortcoming lying in a certain tameness and polished appearance, as if Nature had put on a quiet Sunday suit for the occasion. These three works are noticeable as being at the opposite extreme to those- formed by the school of rough picturesqueness which was soon to arise in England. Here the beauty is that of order and smooth cultivation, blue hills, green valleys, and gently curving water ; even the Via Mala (see No. 3 R.) represents the gorge as a softly-rounded declivity, with a smiling landscape on each side. Near this (No. 5 R.) is a curious coloured print of "Swiss Life in the Olden Time," which certainly represents as trim and holiday a view of peasant life as was ever put upon the boards at Covent Garden or her Majesty's Theatre. Not idealised in the- least, says Mr. Ruskin, but a quite_true picture of a well-to-do farmer's life in Canton Berne.
The next four works are photographs from various Turners, useful here for explanation and illustration of that artist's work, but not coming within the scope of the present notice.
The first of Mr. Ruskin's own drawings is No. 12 R., "The
Ducal Palace," a study of its colour in morning sunlight, not a picture, as it only attempts to give the relation between the various portions of the architecture, the sky being left entirely blank. The first feeling of most visitors to the gallery when they stand before this drawing will, we think, be one of intense sur- prise at its great beauty of colour. The general public have long been accustomed to think of .Ruskin Is a man who cannot paint, have long made up their minds that the only work possible to him is in light and shade, minutely faithful studies of plants and trees,—" nasty black and white things," as a celebrated water- colour artist once called them to us. But this drawing of "The Ducal Palace" is not alone exquisite in its delicate drawing, but its colour is as refined, and yet powerful, as is that of a sea-shell ; and it has succeeded in giving that most evanescent charm which nearly every Venetian building possesses, and which the one in question possesses more than any other, of mingled lightness and strength. We have lived for weeks under the shadow of the palace, and watched the light of dawn and evening on its pictured walls, and we can only say in praise of this drawing that it is the only worthy representation of it that we have ever seen. Even Turner himself never grappled with the gigantic difficulties of detailed drawing and colour which this sketch attempts, but treated the building with distant respect. The most beautiful building of the most beautiful city of the world, sketched with the the utmost patience of unflinching industry and skill, by one who loved both city and palace well, in order that, in his own words, "men shall learn for ages yet to come, from the lips of the Sea Sibyl, what is most noble and most fair,"—such are the subject and the object of the drawing before us. Nos. 13 It. to 16 R. are pencil sketches of different views in Venice, chiefly on the Grand Canal, all admirable for their delicate pencilling and unwearied labour, and all alike leading up to that perfect knowledge of Venice and Venetian architecture of which we have seen the fruits in "The Stones of Venice" and many an eloquent dettcrip- tion and appreciative criticism. And here, perhaps, we may fitly insert, for the benefit of those of our readers who will not or may not have the chance to visit this gallery, Ruskin's dictum as to possible judgment of Art, which he gives here in reference to one of these Venetian sketches :—" No judgment of art is possible to any person who does not love it, and only great and good art can be truly loved ; nor that, without time and the most devoted atten- tion. Foolish and ambitious persons think they can form their judgment by seeing much art of all kinds. They see all the pictures in Italy, all the architecture in the world, and merely make them- selves as incapable of judgment as a worn-out dictionary." Which most true words we will leave our readers to ponder, and proceed with our notice.
No. 20 R., "Studies of Inlaid Marble-work at Lucca," very delicate and true, but more interesting to the student of painting than to the general visitor, being left in a state of incompleteness, hardly to be appreciated without some knowledge of art processes. Nos. 21 R. and 22 R., are two maps done in schoolboy days, be- fore ten years of age. They are remarkable for wonderful neatness, and an amount of self-confidence and skill shown in the deter- mined lettering and general penmanship very singular for the early years of the executor.
No. 23 R. is a very interesting frame of copies from Cruikshank's vignettes to Grimm's fairy-stories. The accuracy of hand and eye here shown, and rightness of execution, free from blot or stain of the slightest kind, are very great, and they do not suffer even with the harsh test of two of the original etchings being placed by their side, as is here done, in No. 24.—R. Then come various other specimens of early work, mostly in pencil, all distinguished pre-eminently for industry, and an utter absence of any attempt at picture-making, that vice which ruins so many a young artist and amateur.
No. 23 R., "Hotel de Ville, Brussels," is the last of these early drawings which we shall notice to-day, being a copy of Prout's drawing, we suppose, very much reduced in scale, as we are not familiar with any work of Prout's of such excessive minuteness. This drawing is simply a wonderful example of painstaking and minute drawing, almost painful in its elaboration. It is purely student work, the original being only a most elaborate outline for future use, and this an absolute fac-simile of it, on a small scale ; as might be expected, the young student got "over- praised for the mechanical industry," such industry and accuracy being indeed wonderful for a boy not yet sixteen. Of Ruskin's later work, and especially of one large drawing here exhibited, of Alpine gneiss, with its flowers and ferns, we shall speak at length next week.
Previous page
