,,lectures ,,on ,,landscape  ,,delivered
 ,,at ,,oxford  ,,in ,,lent ,,term1     
#ahga4   ,library ,edition   ,,the      
,,complete ,,works  ,,of  ,,john        
,,ruskin   ,,crown ,,of ,,wild ,,olive  
,,time ,,and ,,tide ,,queen ,,of ,,the  
,,air ,,lectures ,,on ,,art ,,and       
,,landscape ,,aratra ,,pentelici        
,,national ,,library ,,association ,,new
 ,,york             ,,chicago           
,illustration3 ,,brantwood  ,,from ,a   
,,photograph     ,,prefatory ,,note4    
,these ,lectures on ,landscape were     
given at ,oxford on ,january #bj1       
,february #i1 and ,february #bc1 #ahga4 
,they were not public ,lectures1 like   
,professor ,ruskin's other courses1 but 
addressed only to undergraduates who had
 joined his class4 ,they were           
illustrated by pictures from his        
collection1 of which several are here   
reproduced1 and by others which may be  
seen in the ,oxford ,university         
,galleries or in the ,ruskin ,drawing   
,school4  ,w4,g4,c4     ,,contents4     

,,page  ,,lecture ,i4  ,,outline        
#a   ,,lecture ,,ii4  ,,light ,,and     
,,shade                                 
#af   ,,lecture ,,iii4  ,,color         
#cb     ,,list ,,of ,,plates            
,page  ,vesuvius in ,eruption1 by       
,j4,m4,w4 ,turner                     #b
  ,near ,blair ,athol1 by ,j4,m4,w4     
,turner                        #ai      
,dumblane ,abbey1 by ,j4,m4,w4 ,turner  
#bj  ,madonna and ,child1 by ,filippo   
,lippi                       #cc  ,the  
,lady with the ,brooch1 by ,sir ,joshua 
,reynolds          #ce  sacus and       
,hesperie1 by ,j4,m4,w4 ,turner         
#de  ,mill near ,grande ,chartreuse1 by 
,j4,m4,w4 ,turner             #dg       
,l',aiguillette2 ,valley of ,cluses1 by 
,j4,m4,w4 ,turner         #dh           
,,lectures ,,on ,,landscape4     ,i4    
,,outline4   #a4 ,in my inaugural       
lecture1#a ,i stated that while holding 
this professorship ,i should direct you1
 in your practical exercises1 chiefly to
 natural history and landscape4 ,and    

having in the course of the past year   
laid the foundational elements of art   
sufficiently before you1 ,i will invite 
you1 now1 to enter on real work with me2
 and accordingly ,i propose during this 
and the following term to give you what 
practical leading ,i can in elementary  
study of landscape1 and of a branch of  
natural history which will form a kind  
of center for all the                   
rest--,ichthyology4  ,footnote #a3      
,lectures on ,art1 #ahgj1  #bc4  ,in the
 outset ,i must shortly state to you the
 position which landscape painting and  
animal painting hold towards the higher 
branches of art4  #b4 ,landscape        
painting is the thoughtful and          
passionate representation of the        
physical conditions appointed for human 
existence4 ,it imitates the aspects1 and
 records the phenomena1 of the visible  
things which are dangerous or beneficial
 to men2 and displays the human methods 
of dealing with these1 and of enjoying  
them or suffering from them1 which are  

either exemplary or deserving of        
sympathetic contemplation4 ,animal      
painting investigates the laws of       
greater and less nobility of character  
in organic form1 as comparative anatomy 
examines those of greater and less      
development in organic structure2 and   
the function of animal painting is to   
bring into notice the minor and         
unthought of conditions of power or     
beauty1 as that of physiology is to     
ascertain the minor conditions of       
adaptation4  #c4 ,questions as to the   
purpose of arrangements or the use of   
the organs of an animal are1 however1 no
 less within the province of the painter
 than of the physiologist1 and are      
indeed more likely to commend themselves
 to you through drawing than dissection4
 ,for as you dissect an animal you      
generally assume its form to be         
necessary and only examine how it is    
constructed2 but in drawing the outer   
form itself attentively you are led     
necessarily to consider the mode of life

 for which it is disposed1 and therefore
 to be struck by any awkwardness or     
apparent uselessness in its parts4      
,after sketching one day several heads  
of birds it became a vital matter of    
interest to me to know the use of the   
bony process on the head of the         
hornbill2 but on asking a great         
physiologist1 ,i found that it appeared 
to him an absurd question1 and was      
certainly an unanswerable one4  #d4 ,i  
have limited1 you have just heard1      
landscape painting to the representation
 of phenomena relating to human life4   
,you will scarcely be disposed to admit 
the propriety of such a limitation2 and 
you will still less be likely to        
conceive its necessary strictness and   
severity1 unless ,i convince you of it  
by somewhat detailed examples4  ,here   
are two landscapes by ,turner in his    
greatest time--,vesuvius in repose1     
,vesuvius in eruption4  ,one is a       
beautiful harmony of cool color2 and the
 other of hot1 and they are both        

exquisitely designed in ornamental      
lines4 ,but they are not painted for    
those qualities4 ,they are painted      
because the state of the scene in one   
case is full of delight to men2 and in  
the other of pain and danger4 ,and it is
 not ,turner's object at all to exhibit 
or illustrate natural phenomena1 however
 interesting in themselves4             
,illustration3 ,,vesuvius ,,in          
,,eruption4  ,from the painting by      
,turner4  ,he does not want to paint    
blue mist in order to teach you the     
nature of evaporation2 nor this lava    
stream1 to explain to you the operation 
of gravity on ponderous and viscous     
materials4 ,he paints the blue mist1    
because it brings life and joy to men1  
and the lava stream because it is death 
to them4  #e4 ,again here are two       
sea-pieces by ,turner of the same       
period--photographs from them at least4 
,one is a calm on the shore at          
,scarborough2 the other the wreck of an 
,indiaman4  ,these also are each painted

 with exquisitely artistic purpose3 the 
first in opposition of local black to   
diffused sunshine2 the second in the    
decorative grouping of white spots on a 
dark ground4 ,that decorative purpose of
 dappling1 or ,greek3 poikilia1 is as   
studiously and deliciously carried out  
by ,turner with the ,ddalus side of him1
 in the inlaying of these white spots on
 the ,indiaman's deck1 as if he were    
working a precious toy in ebony and     
ivory4 ,but ,turner did not paint either
 of the sea-pieces for the sake of these
 decorous arrangements2 neither did he  
paint the ,scarborough as a professor of
 physical science1 to show you the level
 of low tide on the ,yorkshire coast2   
nor the ,indiaman to show you the force 
of impact in a liquid mass of sea-water 
of given momentum4 ,he painted this to  
show you the daily course of quiet human
 work and happiness1 and that1 to enable
 you to conceive something of uttermost 
human misery--both ordered by the power 
of the great deep4  #f4 ,you may        

easily--you must1 perhaps1 for a little 
time--suspect me of exaggeration in this
 statement4 ,it is so natural to suppose
 that the main interest of landscape is 
essentially in rocks and water and sky2 
and that figures are to be put1 like the
 salt and mustard to a dish1 only to    
give it a flavor4  ,put all that out of 
your heads at once4 ,the interest of a  
landscape consists wholly in its        
relation either to figures present--or  
to figures past--or to human powers     
conceived4 ,the most splendid drawing of
 the chain of the ,alps1 irrespective of
 their relation to humanity1 is no more 
a true landscape than a painting of this
 bit of stone4 ,for1 as natural         
philosophers1 there is no bigness or    
littleness to you4 ,this stone is just  
as interesting to you1 or ought to      
be--as if it was a million times as big4
 ,there is no more sublimity--per se--in
 ground sloped at an angle of           
forty-five1 than in ground level2 nor in
 a perpendicular fracture of a rock1    

than in a horizontal one4 ,the only     
thing that makes the one more           
interesting to you in a landscape than  
the other1 is that you could tumble over
 the perpendicular fracture--and        
couldn't tumble over the other4 ,a      
cloud1 looked at as a cloud only1 is no 
more a subject for painting than so much
 feculence in dirty water4 ,it is merely
 dirty air1 or at best a chemical       
solution ill made4 ,that it is worthy of
 being painted at all depends upon its  
being the means of nourishment and      
chastisement to men1 or the dwelling    
place of imaginary gods4 ,there's a bit 
of blue sky and cloud by ,turner--one of
 the loveliest ever painted by human    
hand4 ,but1 as a mere pattern of blue   
and white1 he had better have painted a 
jay's wing3 this was only painted by    
him--and is1 in reality1 only pleasant  
to you--because it signifies the coming 
of a gleam of sweet sunshine in windy   
weather2 and the wind is worth thinking 
of only because it fills the sails of   

ships1 and the sun because it warms the 
sailors4  #g4 ,now1 it is most important
 that you should convince yourselves of 
and fully enter into this truth1 because
 all the difficulty in choosing subject 
arises from mistakes about it4 ,i       
daresay some of you who are fond of     
sketching have gone out often in the    
most beautiful country1 and yet with the
 feeling that there was no good subject 
to be found in it4 ,that always arises  
from your not having sympathy enough    
with its vital character1 and looking   
for physical picturesqueness instead4   
,on the contrary1 there are crude       
efforts at landscape-painting1 made     
continually upon the most splendid      
physical phenomena1 in ,america1 and    
other countries without any history4 ,it
 is not of the slightest use4 ,niagara1 
or the ,north ,pole and the ,aurora     
,borealis1 won't make a landscape2 but a
 ditch at ,iffley will1 if you have     
humanity in you--enough in you to       
interpret the feelings of hedgers and   

ditchers1 and frogs4  #h4 ,next1 here is
 one of the most beautiful landscapes   
ever painted1 the best ,i have next to  
the ,greta and ,tees4  ,the subject     
physically is a mere bank of grass above
 a stream with some wych-elms and       
willows4 ,a level-topped bank2 the water
 has cut its way down through the soft  
alluvion of an elevated plain to the    
limestone rock at the bottom4  ,had this
 scene been in ,america1 no mortal could
 have made a landscape of it4 ,it is    
nothing but a grass bank with some not  
very pretty trees scattered over it1    
wholly without grouping4 ,the stream at 
the bottom is rocky indeed1 but its     
rocks are mean1 flat1 and of a dull     
yellow color4 ,the sky is gray and      
shapeless4 ,there's absolutely nothing  
to paint anywhere of essential landscape
 subject1 as commonly understood4  ,now 
see what the landscape consists in1     
which ,i have told you is one of the    
most beautiful ever painted by man4     
,there's first a little bit of it left  

nearly wild1 not quite wild2 there's a  
cart and rider's track through it among 
the copse2 and then1 standing simply on 
the wild moss-troopers' ground1 the     
scattered ruins of a great abbey1 seen  
so dimly1 that they seem to be fading   
out of sight1 in color as in time4      
,these two things together1 the wild    
copse wood and the ruin1 take you back  
into the life of the fourteenth century4
 ,the one is the border-riders' kingdom2
 the other that of peace which has      
striven against border-riding--how      
vainly6 ,both these are remains of the  
past4 ,but the outhouses and refectory  
of the abbey have been turned into a    
farmhouse1 and that is inhabited1 and in
 front of it the ,mistress is feeding   
her chickens4 ,you see the country is   
perfectly quiet and innocent1 for there 
is no trace of a fence anywhere2 the    
cattle have strayed down to the         
riverside1 it being a hot day2 and some 
rest in the shade and two in the water4 
,they could not have done so at their   

ease had the river not been humanized4  
,only a little bit of its stony bed is  
left2 a mill weir1 thrown across1 stays 
the water in a perfectly clear and      
delicious pool2 to show how clear it is1
 ,turner has put the only piece of      
playing color in all the picture into   
the reflections in this4 ,one cow is    
white1 another white and red1 evidently 
as clean as morning dew can wash their  
sides4 ,they could not have been so in a
 country where there was the least coal 
smoke2 so ,turner has put a wreath of   
perfectly white smoke through the trees2
 and lest that should not be enough to  
show you they burnt wood1 he has made   
his foreground of a piece of copse just 
lopped1 with the new fagots standing up 
against it2 and this still not being    
enough to give you the idea of perfect  
cleanliness1 he has covered the stones  
of the river-bed with white clothes laid
 out to dry2 and that not being enough  
yet1 for the river-bed might be clean   
though nothing else was1 he has put a   

quantity more hanging over the abbey    
walls4  #i4 ,only natural phenomena in  
their direct relation to humanity--these
 are to be your subjects in landscape4  
,rocks and water and air may no more be 
painted for their own sakes1 than the   
armor carved without the warrior4  ,but1
 secondly4 ,i said landscape is to be a 
passionate representation of these      
things4 ,it must be done1 that is to    
say1 with strength and depth of soul4   
,this is indeed to some extent merely   
the particular application of a         
principle that has no exception4 ,if you
 are without strong passions1 you cannot
 be a painter at all4 ,the laying of    
paint by an insensitive person1 whatever
 it endeavors to represent1 is not      
painting1 but daubing or plastering2 and
 that1 observe1 irrespective of the     
boldness or minuteness of the work4 ,an 
insensitive person will daub with a     
camel's hair-brush and ultramarine2 and 
a passionate one will paint with mortar 
and a trowel4  #aj4 ,but far more than  

common passion is necessary to paint    
landscape4 ,the physical conditions     
there are so numerous1 and the spiritual
 ones so occult1 that you are sure to be
 overpowered by the materialism1 unless 
your sentiment is strong4 ,no man is    
naturally likely to think first of      
anatomy in painting a pretty woman2 but 
he is very apt to do so in painting a   
mountain4 ,no man of ordinary sense will
 take pleasure in features that have no 
meaning1 but he may easily take it in   
heath1 woods or waterfalls1 that have no
 expression4 ,so that it needs much     
greater strength of heart and intellect 
to paint landscape than figure3 many    
commonplace persons1 bred in good       
schools1 have painted the figure        
pleasantly or even well2 but none but   
the strongest--,john ,bellini1 ,titian1 
,velasquez1 ,tintoret1 ,mantegna1       
,sandro ,botticelli1 ,carpaccio and     
,turner--have ever painted a fragment of
 good landscape4 ,in missal painting    
exquisite figure-drawing is frequent1   

and landscape backgrounds in late works 
are elaborate2 but ,i only know         
thoroughly good landscape in one book2  
and ,i have examined--,i speak          
deliberately--thousands4  #aa4 ,for one 
thing1 the passion is necessary for the 
mere quantity of design4 ,in good art1  
whether painting or sculpture1 ,i have  
again and again told you every touch is 
necessary and beautifully intended4 ,now
 it falls within the compass of ordinary
 application to place rightly all the   
folds of drapery or gleams of light on a
 chain1 or ornaments in a pattern2 but  
when it comes to placing every leaf in a
 tree1 the painter gets tired4 ,here1   
for instance1 is a little bit of ,sandro
 ,botticelli background2 ,i have        
purposefully sketched it in the         
slightest way1 that you might see how   
the entire value of it depends on       
thoughtful placing4 ,there is no texture
 aimed at1 no completion1 scarcely any  
variety of light and shade2 but by mere 
care in the placing the thing is        

beautiful4 ,well1 every leaf1 every     
cloud1 every touch is placed with the   
same care in great work2 and when this  
is done as by ,john ,bellini in the     
picture of ,peter ,martyr1#b or as it   
was by ,titian in the great ,peter      
,martyr1 with every leaf in a wood he   
gets tired4 ,i know no other such       
landscape in the world as that is1 or as
 that was4  ,footnote #b3 ,national     
,gallery1 ,no4 #hab4  #ab4 ,perhaps you 
think on such conditions you never can  
paint landscape at all4 ,well1 great    
landscape certainly not2 but pleasant   
and useful landscape1 yes2 provided only
 the passion you bring to it be true and
 pure4 ,the degree of it you cannot     
command2 the genuineness of it you      
can--yes1 and the depth of source also4 
,tintoret's passion may be like the     
,reichenbach1 and yours only like a     
little dripping ,holywell1 but both     
equally from deep springs4  #ac4 ,but   
though the virtue of all painting 7and  
similarly of sculpture and every other  

art7 is in passion1 ,i must not have you
 begin by working passionately4 ,the    
discipline of youth1 in all its work1 is
 in cooling and curbing itself1 as the  
discipline of age is in warming and     
urging itself2 you know the ,bacchic    
chorus of old men in ,plato's ,laws4 ,to
 the end of life1 indeed1 the strength  
of a man's finest nature is shown in due
 continence2 but that is because the    
finest natures remain young to the      
death3 and for you the first thing you  
have to do in art 7as in life7 is to be 
quiet and firm--quiet1 above everything2
 and modest1 with this most essential   
modesty1 that you must like the         
landscape you are going to draw better  
than you expect to like your drawing of 
it1 however well it may succeed4 ,if you
 would not rather have the real thing   
than your sketch of it1 you are not in a
 right state of mind for sketching at   
all4 ,if you only think of the scene1   
what a nice sketch this will make6 be   
assured you will never make a nice      

sketch of it4 ,you may think you have   
produced a beautiful work2 nay1 perhaps 
the public and many fair judges will    
agree with you2 but ,i tell you         
positively1 there will be no enduring   
value in what you have thus done4       
,whereas if you think of the scene1 ,ah1
 if ,i could only get some shadow or    
scrawl of this to carry away with me1   
how glad ,i should be6--then whatever   
you do will be1 according to your       
strength1 good and progressive3 it may  
be feeble1 or much faultful1 but it will
 be vital and essentially precious4     
#ad4 ,now1 it is not possible for you to
 command this state of mind1 or anything
 like it1 in yourselves at once4 ,nay1  
in all probability your eyes are so     
satiated by the false popular art       
surrounding us now on all sides1 that   
you cannot see the delicate reality     
though you try2 but even though you may 
not care for the truth1 you can act as  
if you did1 and tell it4  ,now1         
therefore1 observe this following quite 

plain direction4 ,whenever you set      
yourself to draw anything1 consider only
 how best you may give a person who has 
not seen the place1 a true idea of it4  
,use any means in your power to do that1
 and don't think of the person for whom 
you are drawing as a connoisseur1 but as
 a person of ordinary sense and feeling4
 ,don't get artist-like qualities for   
him3 but first give him the pleasant    
sensation of being at the place1 then   
show him how the land lies1 how the     
water runs1 how the wind blows1 and so  
on4 ,always think of the public as      
,molire of his old woman2 you have done 
nothing really great or good if you     
can't please her4  #ae4 ,now beginning  
wisely1 so as to lose no time or labor1 
you will learn to paint all the         
conditions of quiet light and sky1      
before you attempt those of variable    
light and cloud4 ,do not trouble        
yourselves with or allow yourselves to  
be tempted by any effects that are      
brilliant or tremendous2 except only    

that from the beginning ,i recommend you
 to watch always for sunrise2 to keep a 
little diary of the manner of it1 and to
 have beside your window a small        
sketch-book1 with pencil cut over night1
 and colors moist4 ,the one indulgence  
which ,i would have you allow yourselves
 in fast coloring1 for some time1 is the
 endeavor to secure some record at the  
instant of the colors of morning clouds2
 while1 if they are merely white or gray
 or blue1 you must get an outline of    
them with pencil4 ,you will soon feel by
 this means what are the real           
difficulties to be encountered in all   
landscape coloring1 and your eyes will  
be educated to quantity and harmonious  
action of forms4  ,but for the          
rest--learn to paint everything in the  
quietest and simplest light4 ,first     
outline your whole subject completely1  
with delicate sharp pencil line4 ,if you
 don't get more than that1 let your     
outline be a finished and lovely diagram
 of the whole4  #af4 ,all the objects   

are then to be painted of their proper  
colors1 matching them as nearly as you  
can1 in the manner that a missal is     
painted1 filling the outlined shapes    
neatly up to their junctions2 renforcing
 afterwards when necessary1 but as      
little as possible2 but1 above all1     
knowing precisely what the light is1 and
 where it is4#c  ,footnote #c3 ,make a  
note of these points3  #a4 ,date1 time  
of day1 temperature1 direction and force
 of wind4  #b4 ,roughly1 by compass1 the
 direction in which you are looking2 and
 angle of the light with respect to it4 
#c4 ,angle subtended by picture1 and    
distance of nearest object in it4  #ag4 
,i have brought two old-fashioned       
colored engravings1#d which are a       
precise type of the style ,i want you to
 begin with4 ,finished from corner to   
corner1 as well as the painter easily   
could2 everything done to good purpose1 
nothing for vain glory2 nothing in haste
 or affectation1 nothing in feverish or 
morbid excitement4 ,the observation is  

accurate2 the sentiment1 though         
childish1 deep and pure2 and the effect 
of light1 for common work1 quite        
curiously harmonious and deceptive4     
,footnote #d3 ,from a ,picturesque ,tour
 from ,geneva to ,milan 444 engraved    
from designs by ,j4 ,lory of ,neufchtel4
 ,london3 ,published by ,r4 ,ackermann1 
at his ,repository of ,arts1 #ahbj4     
,they are1 in spite of their weaknesses1
 absolutely the only landscapes ,i could
 show you which give you a real idea of 
the places1 or which put your minds into
 the tone which1 if you were happy and  
at ease1 they would take in the air and 
light of ,italy4  ,i dwell on the       
necessity of completion especially1     
because ,i have lost much time myself   
from my sympathy with the feverish      
intensity of the minds of the great     
engravers2 and from always fastening on 
one or two points of my subject and     
neglecting the rest4  #ah4 ,we have     
seen1 then1 that every subject is to be 
taken up first in its terminal lines1   

then in its light and shade1 then in its
 color4  ,first of the terminal lines of
 landscape1 or of drawing in outline4   
,i think the examples of shell outline  
in your copying series must already have
 made you feel the exact nature of a    
pure outline1 the difficulty of it1 and 
the value4  ,but we have now to deal    
with limits of a more subtle kind4  ,the
 outline of any simple solid form1 even 
though it may have complex parts1       
represents an actual limit1 accurately  
to be followed4 ,the outline of a cup1  
of a shell1 or of an animal's limb1 has 
a determinable course1 which your pen or
 pencil line either coincides with or   
does not4 ,you can say of that line1    
either it is wrong or right2 if right1  
it is in a measure suggestive1 and nobly
 suggestive of the character of the     
object4 ,but the greater number of      
objects in a landscape either have      
outlines so complex that no pencil could
 follow them 7as trees in middle        
distance71 or they have no actual       

outline at all1 but a gradated and      
softened edge2 as1 for the most part1   
clouds1 foam1 and the like4 ,and even in
 things which have determinate form1 the
 outline of that form is usually quite  
incapable of expressing their real      
character4  ,illustration  #ai4 ,here is
 the most ordinary component of a       
foreground for instance1 a pleasantly   
colored stone4 ,any of its pure outlines
 are not only without beauty1 but       
absolutely powerless to give you any    
notion of its character1 although that  
character is in itself so interesting1  
that here ,turner has made a picture of 
little more than a heap of such stones1 
with blue water to oppose their color4  
,in consequence of these difficulties   
and insufficiencies1 most               
landscape-painters have been tempted to 
neglect outline altogether1 and think   
only of effects of light or color on    
masses more or less obscurely defined4  
,they have thus gradually lost their    
sense of organic form1 their precision  

of hand1 and their respect for limiting 
law2 in a word1 for all the safeguards  
and severe dignities of their art4 ,and 
landscape-painting has1 therefore1 more 
in consequence of this one error than of
 any other1 become weak1 frivolous1 and 
justly despised4  #bj4 ,now1 if any of  
you have chanced to notice at the end of
 my ,queen of the ,air1 my saying that  
in landscape ,turner must be your only  
guide1 you perhaps have thought ,i said 
so because of his great power in melting
 colors or in massing light and shade4  
,not so4 ,i have always said he is the  
only great landscape-painter1 and to be 
your only guide1 because he is the only 
landscape-painter who can draw an       
outline4  ,his finished works perhaps   
appear to you more vague than any other 
master's3 no man loses his outlines more
 constantly4 ,you will be surprised to  
know that his frankness in losing       
depends on his certainty of finding if  
he chooses2 and that1 while all other   
landscape-painters study from ,nature in

 shade or in color1 ,turner always      
sketched with the point4  ,always1 of   
course1 is a wide word4 ,in your copying
 series ,i have put a sketch by ,turner 
in color from ,nature2 some few others  
of the kind exist1 in the ,national     
,gallery and elsewhere4 ,but1 as a rule1
 from his boyhood to the last day of his
 life1 he sketched only with the fine   
pencil point1 and always the outline1   
more if he had time1 but at least the   
outline1 of every scene that interested 
him2 and in general1 outline so subtle  
and elaborate as to be inexhaustible in 
examination and uncopiable for delicacy4
  ,here is a sketch of an ,english park 
scene which represents the average      
character of a study from ,nature by    
,turner2 and here the sketch from       
,nature of ,dumblane ,abbey for the     
,liber ,studiorum1 which shows you what 
he took from ,nature1 when he had time  
only to get what was most precious to   
him4  #ba4 ,the first thing1 therefore1 
you have to learn in landscape1 is to   

outline2 and therefore we must now know 
precisely what an outline is1 how it    
ought to be represented2 and this it    
will be right to define in quite general
 terms applicable to all subjects4  ,we 
saw in the fifth ,lecture#e that every  
visible thing consisted of spaces of    
color1 terminated either by sharp or    
gradated limits4 ,whenever they are     
sharp1 the line of separation1 followed 
by the point of your drawing instrument1
 is the proper outline of your subject1 
whether it represents the limits of flat
 spaces or of solid forms4  ,footnote   
#e3 ,lectures on ,art1 #ahgj1  #acj4    
#bb4 ,for instance1 here is a drawing by
 ,holbein of a lady in a dark dress1    
with bars of black velvet round her arm4
 ,her form is seen everywhere defined   
against the light by a perfectly sharp  
linear limit which ,holbein can         
accurately draw with his pen2 the       
patches of velvet are also distinguished
 from the rest of her dress by a linear 
limit1 which he follows with his pen    

just as decisively4 ,here1 therefore1 is
 your first great law4 ,wherever you see
 one space of color distinguished from  
another by a sharp limit1 you are to    
draw that limit firmly2 and that is your
 outline4  #bc4 ,also1 observe that as  
your representing this limit by a dark  
line is a conventionalism1 and just as  
much a conventionalism when the line is 
subtle as when it is thick1 the great   
masters accept and declare that         
conventionalism with perfect frankness1 
and use bold and decisive outline1 if   
any4  ,also1 observe1 that though1 when 
you are master of your art1 you may     
modify your outline by making it dark in
 some parts1 light in others1 and even  
sometimes thick and sometimes slender1 a
 scientifically accurate outline is     
perfectly equal throughout2 and in your 
first practice ,i wish you to use always
 a pen with a blunt point1 which will   
make no hair stroke under any           
conditions4 ,so that using black ink and
 only one movement of the pen1 not      

returning to thicken your line1 you     
shall either have your line there1 or   
not there2 and that you may not be able 
to gradate or change it1 in any way or  
degree whatsoever4  #bd4 ,now the first 
question respecting it is3 what place is
 your thick line to have with respect to
 the limit which it represents--outside 
of it1 or inside1 or over it8           
,theoretically1 it is to be over it2 the
 true limit falling all the way along   
the center of your thick line4 ,the     
contest of ,apelles with ,protogenes    
consisted in striking this true limit   
within each other's lines1 more and more
 finely4 ,and you may always consider   
your pen line as representing the first 
incision for sculpture1 the true limit  
being the sharp center of the incision4 
,but1 practically1 when you are         
outlining a light object defined against
 a dark one1 the line must go outside of
 it2 and when a dark object against a   
light one1 inside of it4  ,in this      
drawing of ,holbein's1 the hand being   

seen against the light1 the outline goes
 inside the contour of the fingers4     
#be4 ,secondly4 ,and this is of great   
importance4 ,it will happen constantly  
that forms are entirely distinct from   
each other and separated by true limits1
 which are yet invisible1 or nearly so1 
to the eye4 ,i place1 for instance1 one 
of these eggs in front of the other1 and
 probably to most of you the separation 
in the light is indiscernible4 ,is it   
then to be outlined8 ,in practically    
combining outline with accomplished     
light and shade there are cases of this 
kind in which the outline may with      
advantage1 or even must for truth of    
effect1 be omitted4 ,but the facts of   
the solid form are of so vital          
importance1 and the perfect command of  
them so necessary to the dignity and    
intelligibility of the work1 that the   
greatest artists1 even for their        
finished drawings1 like to limit every  
solid form by a fine line1 whether its  
contour be visible to the eye or not4   

#bf4 ,an outline thus perfectly made    
with absolute decision1 and with a wash 
of one color above it1 is the most      
masterly of all methods of light and    
shade study1 with limited time1 when the
 forms of the objects to be drawn are   
clear and unaffected by mist4 ,but      
without any wash of color1 such an      
outline is the most valuable of all     
means for obtaining such memoranda of   
any scene as may explain to another     
person1 or record for yourself1 what is 
most important in its features4  #bg4   
,choose1 then1 a subject that interests 
you2 and so far as failure of time or   
materials compels you to finish one     
part1 or express one character1 rather  
than another1 of course dwell on the    
features that interest you most4 ,but   
beyond this1 forget1 or even somewhat   
repress yourself1 and make it your first
 object to give a true idea of the place
 to other people4 ,you are not to       
endeavor to express your own feelings   
about it2 if anything1 err on the side  

of concealing them4 ,what is best is not
 to think of yourself at all1 but to    
state as plainly and simply as you can  
the whole truth of the thing4 ,what you 
think unimportant in it may to another  
person be the most touching part of it3 
what you think beautiful may be in truth
 commonplace and of small value4        
,quietly complete each part to the best 
of your power1 endeavoring to maintain a
 steady and dutiful energy1 and the     
tranquil pleasure of a workman4         
,,ii4  ,,light ,,and ,,shade4   #bh4 ,in
 my last ,lecture ,i laid before you    
evidence that the greatness of the      
master whom ,i wished you to follow as  
your only guide in landscape depended   
primarily on his studying from ,nature  
always with the point2 that is to say1  
in pencil or pen outline4 ,to-day ,i    
wish to show you that his preminence    
depends secondarily on his perfect      
rendering of form and distance by light 
and shade1 before he admits a thought of
 color4  ,i say before however--observe 

carefully--only with reference to the   
construction of any given picture1 not  
with reference to the order in which he 
learnt his mechanical processes4 ,from  
the beginning1 he worked out of doors   
with the point1 but indoors with the    
brush2 and attains perfect skill in     
washing flat color long before he       
attains anything like skill in          
delineation of form4  #bi4 ,here1 for   
instance1 is a drawing1 when he was     
twelve or thirteen years old1 of ,dover 
,castle and the ,dover ,coach2 in which 
the future love of mystery is exhibited 
by his studiously showing the way in    
which the dust rises about the wheels2  
and an interest in drunken sailors1     
which materially affected his marine    
studies1 shown not less in the occupants
 of the hind seat4 ,but what ,i want you
 to observe is that1 though the trees1  
coach1 horses1 and sailors are drawn as 
any schoolboy would draw them1 the sky  
is washed in so smoothly that few       
water-color painters of our day would   

lightly accept a challenge to match it4 
,and1 therefore1 it is1 among many other
 reasons1 that ,i put the brush into    
your hands from the first1 and try you  
with a wash in lampblack1 before you    
enter my working class4 ,but1 as regards
 the composition of his picture1 the    
drawing is always first with ,turner1   
the color second4  #cj4 ,drawing3 that  
is to say1 the expression by gradation  
of light1 either of form or space4      
,again ,i thus give you a statement     
wholly adverse to the vulgar opinion of 
him4 ,you will find that statement early
 in the first volume of ,modern         
,painters1 and repeated now through all 
my works these twenty-five years1 in    
vain4 ,nobody will believe that the main
 virtue of ,turner is in his drawing4 ,i
 say the main virtue of ,turner4        
,splendid though he be as a colorist1 he
 is not unrivaled in color2 nay1 in some
 qualities of color he has been far     
surpassed by the ,venetians4 ,but no one
 has ever touched him in exquisiteness  

of gradation2 and no one in landscape in
 perfect rendering of organic form4     
#ca4 ,i showed you in this drawing1 at  
last ,lecture1 how truly he had matched 
the color of the iron-stained rocks in  
the bed of the ,ticino2 and any of you  
who care for color at all cannot but    
take more or less pleasure in the black 
and greens and warm browns opposed      
throughout4 ,but the essential value of 
the work is not in these4 ,it is1 first1
 in the expression of enormous scale of 
mountain and space of air1 by gradations
 of shade in these colors1 whatever they
 may be2 and1 secondly1 in the perfect  
rounding and cleaving of the masses     
alike of mountain and stone4 ,i showed  
you one of the stones themselves1 as an 
example of uninteresting outline4 ,if ,i
 were to ask you to paint it1 though its
 color is pleasant enough1 you would    
still find it uninteresting and coarse  
compared to that of a flower1 or a bird4
 ,but if ,i can engage you in an        
endeavor to draw its true forms in light

 and shade1 you will most assuredly find
 it not only interesting1 but in some   
points quite beyond the most subtle     
skill you can give to it4  #cb4 ,you    
have heard me state to you1 several     
times1 that all the masters who valued  
accurate form and modeling found the    
readiest way of obtaining the facts they
 required to be firm pen outline1       
completed by a wash of neutral tint4    
,this method is indeed rarely used by   
,raphael or ,michael ,angelo in the     
drawings they have left us1 because     
their studies are nearly all            
tentative--experiments in composition1  
in which the imperfect or careless pen  
outline suggested all they required1 and
 was capable of easy change without     
confusing the eye4 ,but the masters who 
knew precisely before they laid touch on
 paper what they were going to do--and  
this may be1 observe1 either because    
they are less or greater than the men   
who change2 less1 in merely drawing some
 natural object without attempt at      

composition1 or greater in knowing      
absolutely beforehand the composition   
they intend2 it may be1 even so1 that   
what they intend1 though better known1  
is not so good3--but at all events1 in  
this anticipating power ,tintoret1      
,holbein and ,turner stand1 ,i think1   
alone as draughtsmen2 ,tintoret rarely  
sketching at all1 but painting straight 
at the first blow1 while ,holbein and   
,turner sketch indeed1 but it is as with
 a pen of iron and a point of diamond4  
#cc4 ,you will find in your educational 
series#f many drawings illustrative of  
the method2 but ,i have enlarged here   
the part that is executed with the pen1 
out of this smaller drawing1 that you   
may see with what fearless strength     
,holbein delineates even the most       
delicate folds of the veil on the head1 
and of the light muslin on the          
shoulders1 giving them delicacy1 not by 
the thinness of his line1 but by its    
exquisite veracity4  ,footnote #f3 ,at  
the ,ruskin ,drawing ,school1 ,oxford4  

,the eye will endure with patience1 or  
even linger with pleasure1 on any line  
that is right1 however coarse2 while the
 faintest or finest that is wrong will  
be forcibly destructive4 ,and again and 
again ,i have to recommend you to draw  
always as if you were engraving1 and as 
if the line could not be changed4  #cd4 
,the method used by ,turner in the      
,liber ,studiorum is precisely analogous
 to that of ,holbein4 ,the lines of     
these etchings are to trees1 rocks1 or  
buildings1 absolutely what these of     
,holbein are2 not suggestions of        
contingent grace1 but determinations of 
the limits of future form4 ,you will see
 the explanatory office of such lines by
 placing this outline over my drawing of
 the stone1 until the lines coincide    
with the limits of the shadow4 ,you will
 find that it intensifies and explains  
the forms which otherwise would have    
escaped notice1 and that a perfectly    
gradated wash of neutral tint with an   
outline of this kind is all that is     

necessary for grammatical statement of  
forms4 ,it is all that the great        
colorists need for their studies2 they  
would think it wasted time to go        
farther2 but1 if you have no eye for    
color1 you may go farther in another    
manner1 with enjoyment4  #ce4 ,now to go
 back to ,turner4  ,the first great     
object of the ,liber ,studiorum1 for    
which ,i requested you in my sixth      
,lecture#g to make constant use of it1  
is the delineation of solid form by     
outline and shadow4 ,but a yet more     
important purpose in each of the designs
 in that book is the expression of such 
landscape powers and character as have  
especial relation to the pleasures and  
pain of human life--but especially the  
pain4 ,and it is in this respect that ,i
 desired you 7,sect4 #agb7 to be        
assured1 not merely of their            
superiority1 but of their absolute      
difference in kind from photography1 as 
works of disciplined design4  ,footnote 
#g3 ,lectures on ,art1 #ahgj1  #agj4    

,illustration3 ,,near ,,blair ,,athol4  
,from the painting by ,turner4  #cf4 ,i 
do not know whether any of you were     
interested enough in the little note in 
my catalogue on this view near ,blair   
,athol1 to look for the scene itself    
during your summer rambles4 ,if any did1
 and found it1 ,i am nearly certain     
their impression would be only that of  
an extreme wonder how ,turner could have
 made so little of so beautiful a spot4 
,the projecting rock1 when ,i saw it    
last in #aheg1 and ,i am certain1 when  
,turner saw it1 was covered with lichens
 having as many colors as a painted     
window4 ,the stream--or rather powerful 
and deep ,highland river1 the           
,tilt--foamed and eddied magnificently  
through the narrowed channel2 and the   
wild vegetation in the rock crannies was
 a finished arabesque of living         
sculpture1 of which this study of mine1 
made on another stream1 in ,glenfinlas1 
only a few miles away1 will give you a  
fair idea4 ,turner has absolutely       

stripped the rock of its beautiful      
lichens to bare slate1 with one quartz  
vein running up through it2 he has      
quieted the river into a commonplace    
stream2 he has given1 of all the rich   
vegetation1 only one cluster of quite   
uninteresting leaves and a clump of     
birches with ragged trunks4 ,yet1       
observe1 ,i have told you of it1 he has 
put into one scene the spirit of        
,scotland4  ,illustration3 ,,dumblane   
,,abbey4  ,from the painting by ,turner4
  #cg4 ,similarly1 those of you who in  
your long vacations have ever stayed    
near ,dumblane will be1 ,i think1       
disappointed in no small degree by this 
study of the abbey1 for which ,i showed 
you the sketch at last ,lecture4 ,you   
probably know that the oval window in   
its west end is one of the prettiest    
pieces of rough thirteenth-century      
carving in the kingdom2 ,i used it for a
 chief example in my lectures at        
,edinburgh2 and you know that the lancet
 windows1 in their fine proportion and  

rugged masonry1 would alone form a study
 of ruined ,gothic masonry of exquisite 
interest4  ,yet you find ,turner        
representing the lancet window by a few 
bare oval lines like the hoop of a      
barrel2 and indicating the rest of the  
structure by a monotonous and thin piece
 of outline1 of which ,i was asked by   
one of yourselves last term1 and quite  
naturally and rightly1 how ,turner came 
to draw it so slightly--or1 we may even 
say1 so badly4  #ch4 ,whenever you find 
,turner stopping short1 or apparently   
failing in this way1 especially when he 
does the contrary of what any of us     
would have been nearly sure to do1 then 
is the time to look for your main lesson
 from him4 ,you recollect those quiet   
words of the strongest of all           
,shakespeare's heroes1 when any one else
 would have had his sword out in an     
instant3       ,keep up your bright     
swords1 for the dew will rust them 444  
,were it my cue to fight1 ,i should have
 known it      ,without a prompter4#h   

,footnote #h3 ,othello1 ,i4 #b4  ,now   
you must always watch keenly what       
,turner's cue is4 ,you will see his hand
 go to his hilt fast enough1 when it    
comes4 ,dumblane ,abbey is a pretty     
piece of building enough1 it is true2   
but the virtue of the whole scene1 and  
meaning1 is not in the masonry of it4   
,there is much better masonry and much  
more wonderful ruin of it elsewhere2    
,dumblane ,abbey--tower and aisles and  
all--would go under one of the arches of
 buildings such as there are in the     
world4 ,look at what ,turner will do    
when his cue is masonry1--in the        
,coliseum4 ,what the execution of that  
drawing is you may judge by looking with
 a magnifying glass at the ivy and      
battlements in this1 when1 also1 his cue
 is masonry4 ,what then can he mean by  
not so much as indicating one pebble or 
joint in the walls of ,dumblane8        
,illustration  #ci4 ,i was sending out  
the other day1 to a friend in ,america1 
a chosen group of the ,liber ,studiorum 

to form a nucleus for an art collection 
at ,boston4 ,and ,i warned my friend at 
once to guard his public against the    
sore disappointment their first sight of
 these so much celebrated works would be
 to them4 ,you will have to make them   
understand1 ,i wrote to him1 that their 
first lesson will be in observing not   
what ,turner has done1 but what he has  
not done4 ,these are not finished       
pictures1 but studies2 endeavors1 that  
is to say1 to get the utmost result     
possible with the simplest means2 they  
are essentially thoughtful1 and have    
each their fixed purpose1 to which      
everything else is sacrificed2 and that 
purpose is always imaginative--to get at
 the heart of the thing1 not at its     
outside4  #dj4 ,now1 it is true1 there  
are beautiful lichens at ,blair ,athol1 
and good building at ,dumblane2 but     
there are lovely lichens all over the   
cold regions of the world1 and there is 
far more interesting architecture in    
other countries than in ,scotland4 ,the 

essential character of ,scotland is that
 of a wild and thinly inhabited rocky   
country1 not sublimely mountainous1 but 
beautiful in low rock and light         
streamlet everywhere2 with sweet        
copsewood and rudely growing trees4     
,this wild land possesses a subdued and 
imperfect school of architecture1 and   
has an infinitely tragic feudal1        
pastoral1 and civic history4 ,and in the
 events of that history a deep          
tenderness of sentiment is mingled with 
a cruel and barren rigidity of habitual 
character1 accurately corresponding to  
the conditions of climate and earth4    
#da4 ,now ,i want you especially to     
notice1 with respect to these things1   
,turner's introduction of the ugly      
square tower high up on the left4 ,your 
first instinct would be to exclaim1 ,how
 unlucky that was there at all6 ,why1 at
 least1 could not ,turner have kept it  
out of sight8 ,he has quite gratuitously
 brought it into sight2 gratuitously    
drawn firmly the three lines of stiff   

drip-stone which mark its squareness and
 blankness4 ,it is precisely that blank 
vacancy of decoration1 and setting of   
the meager angles against wind and war1 
which he wants to force on your notice1 
that he may take you thoroughly out of  
,italy and ,greece1 and put you wholly  
into a barbarous and frost-hardened     
land2 that once having its gloom defined
 he may show you all the more intensely 
what pastoral purity and innocence of   
life1 and loveliness of nature1 are     
underneath the banks and braes of       
,doune1 and by every brooklet that feeds
 the ,forth and ,clyde4  ,that is the   
main purpose of these two studies4 ,how 
it is obtained by various incidents in  
the drawing of stones1 and trees1 and   
figures1 ,i will show you another time4 
,the chief element in both is the       
sadness and depth of their effect of    
subdued though clear light in sky and   
stream4  #db4 ,the sadness of their     
effect1 ,i repeat4 ,if you remember     
anything of the ,lectures ,i gave you   

through last year1 you must be gradually
 getting accustomed to my definition of 
the ,greek school in art1 as one        
essentially ,chiaroscurist1 as opposed  
to ,gothic color2 ,realist1 as opposed  
to ,gothic imagination2 and ,despairing1
 as opposed to ,gothic hope4 ,and you   
are prepared to recognize it by any one 
of these three conditions4 ,only1       
observe1 the chiaroscuro is simply the  
technical result of the two others3 a   
,greek painter likes light and shade1   
first1 because they enable him to       
realize form solidly1 while color is    
flat2 and secondly1 because light and   
shade are melancholy1 while color is    
gay4  ,so that the defect of color1 and 
substitution of more or less gray or    
gloomy effects of rounded gradation1    
constantly express the two characters3  
first1 ,academic or ,greek fleshliness  
and solidity as opposed to ,gothic      
imagination2 and secondly1 of ,greek    
tragic horror and gloom as opposed to   
,gothic gladness4  #dc4 ,in the great   

,french room in the ,louvre1 if you at  
all remember the general character of   
the historical pictures1 you will       
instantly recognize1 in thinking        
generally of them1 the rounded fleshly  
and solid character in the drawing1 the 
gray or greenish and brownish color1 or 
defect of color1 lurid and              
moonlight-like1 and the gloomy choice of
 subjects1 as the ,deluge1 the ,field of
 ,eylau1 the ,starvation on the ,raft1  
and the ,death of ,endymion2 always     
melancholy1 and usually horrible4  ,the 
more recent pictures of the painter     
,grme unite all these attributes in a   
singular degree2 above all1 the         
fleshliness and materialism which make  
his studies of the nude1 in my judgment1
 altogether inadmissible into the rank  
of the fine arts4  #dd4 ,now you observe
 that ,i never speak of this ,greek     
school but with a certain dread4 ,and   
yet ,i have told you that ,turner       
belongs to it1 that all the strongest   
men in times of developed art belong to 

it2 but then1 remember1 so do all the   
basest4 ,the learning of the ,academy is
 indeed a splendid accessory to original
 power1 in ,velasquez1 in ,titian1 or in
 ,reynolds2 but the whole world of art  
is full of a base learning of the       
,academy1 which1 when fools possess1    
they become a tenfold plague of fools4  
,and again1 a stern and more or less    
hopeless melancholy necessarily is      
under-current in the minds of the       
greatest men of all ages1--of ,homer1   
,aeschylus1 ,pindar1 or ,shakespeare4   
,but an earthy1 sensual1 and weak       
despondency is the attribute of the     
lowest mental and bodily disease2 and   
the imbecilities and lassitudes which   
follow crime1 both in nations and       
individuals1 can only find a last       
stimulus to their own dying sensation in
 the fascinated contemplation of        
completer death4  #de4 ,between         
these--the highest1 and these--the      
basest1 you have every variety and      
combination of strength and of mistake3 

the mass of foolish persons dividing    
themselves always between the two       
oppositely and equally erroneous faiths1
 that genius may dispense with law1 or  
that law can create genius4 ,of the two1
 there is more excuse for1 and less     
danger in the first than in the second  
mistake4 ,genius has sometimes done     
lovely things without knowledge and     
without discipline4 ,but all the        
learning of the ,academies has never yet
 drawn so much as one fair face1 or ever
 set two pleasant colors side by side4  
#df4 ,now there is one great ,northern  
painter1 of whom ,i have not spoken till
 now1 probably to your surprise1        
,rubens2 whose power is composed of so  
many elements1 and whose character may  
be illustrated so completely1 and with  
it the various operation of the counter 
schools1 by one of his pictures now open
 to your study1 that ,i would press you 
to set aside one of your brightest      
,easter afternoons for the study of that
 one picture in the ,exhibition of ,old 

,masters1 the so-called ,juno and       
,argus1 ,no4 #chg4  ,so-called1 ,i say2 
for it is not a picture either of ,argus
 or of ,juno1 but the portrait of a     
,flemish lady as ,juno 7just as ,rubens 
painted his family picture with his wife
 as the ,virgin and himself as ,st4     
,george73 and a good anatomical study of
 a human body as ,argus4 ,in the days of
 ,rubens1 you must remember1 mythology  
was thought of as a mere empty form of  
compliment or fable1 and the original   
meaning of it wholly forgotten4 ,rubens 
never dreamed that ,argus is the night1 
or that his eyes are stars2 but with the
 absolutely literal and brutal part of  
his ,dutch nature supposes the head of  
,argus full of real eyes all over1 and  
represents ,hebe cutting them out with a
 bloody knife and putting one into the  
hand of the goddess1 like an unseemly   
oyster4  ,that conception of the action1
 and the loathsome sprawling of the     
trunk of ,argus under the chariot1 are  
the essential contributions of ,rubens' 

own ,netherland personality4 ,then the  
rest of the treatment he learned from   
other schools1 but adopted with splendid
 power4  #dg4 ,first1 ,i think1 you     
ought to be struck by having two large  
peacocks painted with scarcely any color
 in them6 ,they are nearly black1 or    
black-green1 peacocks4 ,now you know    
that ,rubens is always spoken of as a   
great colorist1 par excellence a        
colorist2 and would you not have        
expected that--before all things--the   
first thing he would have seen in a     
peacock would have been gold and blue8  
,he sees nothing of the kind4 ,a        
peacock1 to him1 is essentially a dark  
bird2 serpent-like in the writhing of   
the neck1 cloud-like in the toss and    
wave of its plumes4 ,he has dashed out  
the filaments of every feather with     
magnificent drawing2 he has not given   
you one bright gleam of green or purple 
in all the two birds4  ,well1 the reason
 of that is that ,rubens is not par     
excellence a colorist2 nay1 is not even 

a good colorist4 ,he is a very          
second-rate and coarse colorist2 and    
therefore his color catches the lower   
public1 and gets talked about4 ,but he  
is par excellence a splendid draughtsman
 of the ,greek school2 and no one else1 
except ,tintoret1 could have drawn with 
the same ease either the muscles of the 
dead body or the plumes of the birds4   
#dh4 ,farther1 that he never became a   
great colorist does not mean that he    
could not1 had he chosen4 ,he was warped
 from color by his lower ,greek         
instincts1 by his animal delight in     
coarse and violent forms and scenes--in 
fighting1 in hunting1 and in torments of
 martyrdom and of hell3 but he had the  
higher gift in him1 if the flesh had not
 subdued it4 ,there is one part of this 
picture which he learned how to do at   
,venice1 the ,iris1 with the golden     
hair1 in the chariot behind ,juno4 ,in  
her he has put out his full power1 under
 the teaching of ,veronese and ,titian2 
and he has all the splendid             

,northern-,gothic1 ,reynolds or         
,gainsborough play of feature with      
,venetian color4 ,scarcely anything more
 beautiful than that head1 or more      
masterly than the composition of it1    
with the inlaid pattern of ,juno's robe 
below1 exists in the art of any country4
 ,si sic omnia6--but ,i know nothing    
else equal to it throughout the entire  
works of ,rubens4  #di4 ,see1 then1 how 
the picture divides itself4 ,in the     
fleshly baseness1 brutality and         
stupidity of its main conception1 is the
 ,dutch part of it2 that is ,rubens'    
own4 ,in the noble drawing of the dead  
body and of the birds you have the      
,phidias-,greek part of it1 brought down
 to ,rubens through ,michael ,angelo4   
,in the embroidery of ,juno's robe you  
have the ,ddalus-,greek part of it1     
brought down to ,rubens through         
,veronese4 ,in the head of ,iris you    
have the pure ,northern-,gothic part of 
it1 brought down to ,rubens through     
,giorgione and ,titian4  #ej4 ,now1     

though--even if we had given ten minutes
 of digression--the lessons in this     
picture would have been well worth it1  
,i have not1 in taking you to it1 gone  
out of my own way4 ,there is a special  
point for us to observe in those dark   
peacocks4 ,if you look at the notes on  
the ,venetian pictures in the end of my 
,stones of ,venice1 you will find it    
especially dwelt upon as singular that  
,tintoret1 in his picture of ,the       
,nativity1 has a peacock without any    
color in it4 ,and the reason of it is   
also that ,tintoret belongs1 with the   
full half of his mind1 as ,rubens does1 
to the ,greek school4 ,but the two men  
reach the same point by opposite paths4 
,tintoret begins with what ,venice      
taught him1 and adopted what ,athens    
could teach3 but ,rubens begins with    
,athens1 and adopts from ,venice4 ,now  
if you will look back to my fifth       
,lecture#i you will find it said that   
the colorists can always adopt as much  
chiaroscuro as suits them1 and so become

 perfect2 but the chiaroscurists cannot1
 on their part1 adopt color1 except     
partially4 ,and accordingly1 whenever   
,tintoret chooses1 he can laugh ,rubens 
to scorn in management of light and     
shade2 but ,rubens only here and        
there--as far as ,i know myself1 only   
this once--touches ,tintoret or         
,giorgione in color4  ,footnote #i3     
,lectures on ,art 7the ,inaugural       
,course1 #ahgj71  #ach4  #ea4 ,but now  
observe farther4 ,the ,greek            
chiaroscuro1 ,i have just told you1 is  
by one body of men pursued academically1
 as a means of expressing form2 by      
another1 tragically1 as a mystery of    
light and shade1 corresponding to--and  
forming part of--the joy and sorrow of  
life4 ,you may1 of course1 find the two 
purposes mingled3 but pure formal       
chiaroscuro--,marc ,antonio's and       
,leonardo's--is inconsistent with color1
 and though it is thoroughly necessary  
as an exercise1 it is only as a         
correcting and guarding one1 never as a 

basis of art4  #eb4 ,let me be sure1    
now1 that you thoroughly understand the 
relation of formal shade to color4 ,here
 is an egg2 here1 a green cluster of    
leaves2 here1 a bunch of black grapes4  
,in formal chiaroscuro1 all these are to
 be considered as white1 and drawn as if
 they were carved in marble4 ,in the    
engraving of ,melancholy1 what ,i meant 
by telling you it was in formal         
chiaroscuro was that the ball is white1 
the leaves are white1 the dress is      
white2 you can't tell what color any of 
these stand for4 ,on the contrary1 to a 
colorist the first question about       
everything is its color4 ,is this a     
white thing1 a green thing1 or a blue   
thing8 down must go my touch of white1  
green1 or dark blue first of all2 if    
afterwards ,i can make them look round1 
or like fruit and leaves1 it's all very 
well2 but if ,i can't1 blue or green    
they at least shall be4  #ec4 ,now here 
you have exactly the thing done by the  
two masters we are speaking of4 ,here is

 a copy of ,turner's vignette of        
,martigny4 ,this is wholly a design of  
the colored school4 ,here is a bit of   
vine in the foreground with purple      
grapes2 the grapes1 so far from being   
drawn as round1 are struck in with      
angular flat spots2 but they are vividly
 purple spots1 their whole vitality and 
use in the design is in their ,tyrian   
nature4 ,here1 on the contrary1 is      
,drer's ,flight into ,egypt1 with grapes
 and palm fruit above4 ,both are white2 
but both engraved so as to look         
thoroughly round4  #ed4 ,all the other  
great chiaroscurists whom ,i named to   
you--,reynolds1 ,velasquez1 and         
,titian--approached their shadow also on
 the safe side--from ,venice3 they      
always think of color first4 ,but       
,turner had to work his way out of the  
dark ,greek school up to ,venice2 he    
always thinks of his shadow first2 and  
it held him in some degree fatally to   
the end4 ,those pictures which you all  
laughed at were not what you fancied1   

mad endeavors for color2 they were      
agonizing ,greek efforts to get light4  
,he could have got color easily enough  
if he had rested in that2 which ,i will 
show you in next ,lecture4 ,still1 he so
 nearly made himself a ,venetian that1  
as opposed to the ,dutch academical     
chiaroscurists1 he is to be considered a
 ,venetian altogether4 ,and now ,i will 
show you1 in a very simple subject1 the 
exact opposition of the two schools4    
#ee4 ,here is a study of swans1 from a  
,dutch book of academical instruction in
 ,rubens' time4 ,it is a good and       
valuable book in many ways1 and you are 
going to have some copies set you from  
it4 ,but as a type of academical        
chiaroscuro it will give you most       
valuable lessons on the other side--of  
warning4  ,here1 then1 is the academical
 ,dutchman's notion of a swan4 ,he has  
laboriously engraved every feather1 and 
has rounded the bird into a ball2 and   
has thought to himself that never swan  
has been so engraved before4 ,but he has

 never with his ,dutch eyes perceived   
two points in a swan which are vital to 
it3 first1 that it is white2 and1       
secondly1 that it is graceful4 ,he has  
above all things missed the proportion1 
and necessarily therefore the bend of   
its neck4  #ef4 ,now take the colorist's
 view of the matter4 ,to him the first  
main facts about the swan are that it is
 a white thing with black spots4 ,turner
 takes one brush in his right hand1 with
 a little white in it2 another in his   
left hand1 with a little lampblack4 ,he 
takes a piece of brown paper1 works for 
about two minutes with his white brush1 
passes the black to his right hand1 and 
works half a minute with that1 and1     
there you are6  ,you would like to be   
able to draw two swans in two minutes   
and a half yourselves4 ,perhaps so1 and 
,i can show you how2 but it will need   
twenty years' work all day long4 ,first1
 in the meantime1 you must draw them    
rightly1 if it takes two hours instead  
of two minutes2 and1 above all1 remember

 that they are black and white4  #eg4   
,but farther3 you see how intensely     
,turner felt precisely what the ,fleming
 did not feel--the bend of the neck4    
,now this is not because ,turner is a   
colorist1 as opposed to the ,fleming2   
but because he is a pure and highly     
trained ,greek1 as opposed to the       
,fleming's low ,greek4 ,both1 so far as 
they are aiming at form1 are now working
 in the ,greek school of ,phidias2 but  
,turner is true ,greek1 for he is       
thinking only of the truth about the    
swan2 and ,de ,wit is pseudo-,greek1 for
 he is thinking not of the swan at all1 
but of his own ,dutch self4 ,and so he  
has ended in making1 with his           
essentially piggish nature1 this        
sleeping swan's neck as nearly as       
possible like a leg of pork4  ,that is  
the result of academical work1 in the   
hands of a vulgar person4  #eh4 ,and now
 ,i will ask you to look carefully at   
three more pictures in the ,london      
,exhibition4  ,the first1 ,the          

,nativity1 by ,sandro ,botticelli4#aj   
,it is an early work by him2 but a quite
 perfect example of what the masters of 
the pure ,greek school did in ,florence4
  ,footnote #aj3 ,now in the ,national  
,gallery1 ,no4 #ajcd4  ,one of the      
,greek main characters1 you know1 is to 
be ,greek3 aprospos1 faceless4 ,if you  
look first at the faces in this picture 
you will find them ugly--often without  
expression1 always ill or carelessly    
drawn4 ,the entire purpose of the       
picture is a mystic symbolism by motion 
and chiaroscuro4 ,by motion1 first4     
,there is a dome of burning clouds in   
the upper heaven4 ,twelve angels half   
float1 half dance1 in a circle1 round   
the lower vault of it4 ,all their       
drapery is drifted so as to make you    
feel the whirlwind of their motion4     
,they are seen by gleams of silvery or  
fiery light1 relieved against an equally
 lighted blue of inimitable depth and   
loveliness4  ,it is impossible for you  
ever to see a more noble work of        

passionate ,greek chiaroscuro--rejoicing
 in light4 ,from this ,i should like you
 to go instantly to ,rembrandt's        
,portrait of a ,burgomaster 7,no4 #gg in
 the ,exhibition of ,old ,masters74     
#ei4 ,that is ignobly passionate        
chiaroscuro1 rejoicing in darkness      
rather than light4  ,you cannot see a   
finer work by ,rembrandt4 ,it has all   
his power of rendering character1 and   
the portrait is celebrated through the  
world4 ,but it is entirely second-rate  
work4 ,the character in the face is only
 striking to persons who like           
candle-light effects better than        
sunshine2 any head by ,titian has twice 
the character1 and seen by daylight     
instead of gas4 ,the rest of the picture
 is as false in light and shade as it is
 pretentious1 made up chiefly of        
gleaming buttons in places where no     
light could possibly reach them2 and of 
an embossed belt on the shoulder1 which 
people think finely painted because it  
is all over lumps of color1 not one of  

which was necessary4 ,that embossed     
execution of ,rembrandt's is just as    
much ignorant work as the embossed      
projecting jewels of ,carlo ,crivelli2 a
 real painter never loads 7see the      
,velasquez1 ,no4 #dae in the same       
exhibition74  #fj4 ,finally1 from the   
,rembrandt go to the little ,cima 7,no4 
#ic71 ,st4 ,mark4 ,thus you have the    
,sandro ,botticelli1 of the noble ,greek
 school in ,florence2 the ,rembrandt1 of
 the debased ,greek school in ,holland2 
and the ,cima1 of the pure color school 
of ,venice4  ,the ,cima differs from the
 ,rembrandt1 by being lovely2 from the  
,botticelli1 by being simple and calm4  
,the painter does not desire the        
excitement of rapid movement1 nor even  
the passion of beautiful light4 ,but he 
hates darkness as he does death2 and    
falsehood more than either4 ,he has     
painted a noble human creature simply in
 clear daylight2 not in rapture1 nor yet
 in agony4 ,he is dressed neither in a  
rainbow1 nor bedraggled with blood4 ,you

 are neither to be alarmed nor          
entertained by anything that is likely  
to happen to him4 ,you are not to be    
improved by the piety of his expression1
 nor disgusted by its truculence4 ,but  
there is more true mastery of light and 
shade1 if your eye is subtle enough to  
see it1 in the hollows and angles of the
 architecture and folds of the dress1   
than in all the etchings of ,rembrandt  
put together4 ,the unexciting color will
 not at first delight you2 but its charm
 will never fail2 and from all the works
 of variously strained and obtrusive    
power with which it is surrounded1 you  
will find that you never return to it   
but with a sense of relief and of peace1
 which can only be given you by the     
tender skill which is wholly without    
pretense1 without pride1 and without    
error4     ,,iii4  ,,color4   #fa4 ,the 
distinctions between schools of art     
which ,i have so often asked you to     
observe are1 you must be aware1 founded 
only on the excess of certain qualities 

in one group of painters over another1  
or the difference in their tendencies2  
and not in the absolute possession by   
one group1 and absence in the rest1 of  
any given skill4 ,but this impossibility
 of drawing trenchant lines of parting  
need never interfere with the           
distinctness of our conception of the   
opponent principles which balance each  
other in great minds1 or paralyze each  
other in weak ones2 and ,i cannot too   
often urge you to keep clearly separate 
in your thoughts the school which ,i    
have called#aa of ,crystal1 because its 
distinctive virtue is seen unaided in   
the sharp separations and prismatic     
harmonies of painted glass1 and the     
other1 the ,school of ,clay1 because its
 distinctive virtue is seen in the      
qualities of any fine work in uncolored 
terra cotta1 and in every drawing which 
represents them4  ,footnote #aa3        
,lectures on ,art1 #ahgj1  #ahe4  #fb4  
,you know ,i sometimes speak of these   
generally as the ,gothic and ,greek     

schools1 sometimes as the colorist and  
chiaroscurist4 ,all these oppositions   
are liable to infinite qualification and
 gradation1 as between species of       
animals2 and you must not be troubled1  
therefore1 if sometimes momentary       
contradictions seem to arise in         
examining special points4 ,nay1 the     
modes of opposition in the greatest men 
are inlaid and complex2 difficult to    
explain1 though in themselves clear4    
,thus you know in your study of         
sculpture we saw that the essential aim 
of the ,greek art was tranquil action2  
the chief aim of ,gothic art was        
passionate rest1 a peace1 an eternity of
 intense sentiment4 ,as ,i go into      
detail1 ,i shall continually therefore  
have to oppose ,gothic passion to ,greek
 temperance2 yet ,gothic rigidity1      
,greek3 stasis of ,greek3 ekstasis1 to  
,greek action and ,greek3 eleutheria4   
,you see how doubly1 how intimately1    
opposed the ideas are2 yet how difficult
 to explain without apparent            

contradiction4  #fc4 ,now1 to-day1 ,i   
must guard you carefully against a      
misapprehension of this kind4 ,i have   
told you that the ,greeks as ,greeks    
made real and material what was before  
indefinite2 they turned the clouds and  
the lightning of ,mount ,ithome into the
 human flesh and eagle upon the extended
 arm of the ,messenian ,zeus4 ,and yet1 
being in all things set upon absolute   
veracity and realization1 they perceive 
as they work and think forward that to  
see in all things truly is to see in all
 things dimly and through hiding of     
cloud and fire4  ,so that the schools of
 ,crystal1 visionary1 passionate1 and   
fantastic in purpose1 are1 in method1   
trenchantly formal and clear2 and the   
schools of ,clay1 absolutely realistic1 
temperate1 and simple in purpose1 are1  
in method1 mysterious and soft2         
sometimes licentious1 sometimes         
terrific1 and always obscure4           
,illustration3 ,,madonna ,,and ,,child4 
,from the painting by ,filippo ,lippi4  

#fd4 ,look once more at this ,greek     
dancing-girl1 which is from a terra     
cotta1 and therefore intensely of the   
school of ,clay2 look at her beside this
 ,madonna of ,filippo ,lippi's3 ,greek  
motion against ,gothic absolute         
quietness2 ,greek indifference--dancing 
careless--against ,gothic passion1 the  
mother's--what word can ,i use except   
frenzy of love2 ,greek fleshliness      
against hungry wasting of the           
self-forgetful body2 ,greek softness of 
diffused shadow and ductile curve1      
against ,gothic lucidity of color and   
acuteness of angle2 and ,greek          
simplicity and cold veracity against    
,gothic rapture of trusted vision4  #fe4
 ,and now ,i may safely1 ,i think1 go   
into our work of to-day without         
confusing you1 except only in this4 ,you
 will find me continually speaking of   
four men--,titian1 ,holbein1 ,turner1   
and ,tintoret--in almost the same terms4
 ,they unite every quality2 and         
sometimes you will find me referring to 

them as colorists1 sometimes as         
chiaroscurists4 ,only remember this1    
that ,holbein and ,turner are ,greek    
chiaroscurists1 nearly perfect by       
adopted color2 ,titian and ,tintoret are
 essentially ,gothic colorists1 quite   
perfect by adopted chiaroscuro4  #ff4 ,i
 used the word prismatic just now of the
 schools of ,crystal1 as being          
iridescent4 ,by being studious of color 
they are studious of division2 and while
 the chiaroscurist devotes himself to   
the representation of degrees of force  
in one thing--unseparated light1 the    
colorists have for their function the   
attainment of beauty by arrangement of  
the divisions of light4 ,and therefore1 
primarily1 they must be able to divide2 
so that elementary exercises in color   
must be directed1 like first exercises  
in music1 to the clear separation of    
notes2 and the final perfections of     
color are those in which1 of innumerable
 notes or hues1 every one has a distinct
 office1 and can be fastened on by the  

eye1 and approved1 as fulfilling it4    
#fg4 ,i do not doubt that it has often  
been matter of wonder among any of you  
who had faith in my judgment1 why ,i    
gave to the ,university1 as             
characteristic of ,turner's work1 the   
simple and at first unattractive        
drawings of the ,loire series4 ,my first
 and principal reason was that they     
enforced beyond all resistance1 on any  
student who might attempt to copy them1 
this method of laying portions of       
distinct hue side by side4 ,some of the 
touches1 indeed1 when the tint has been 
mixed with much water1 have been laid in
 little drops or ponds1 so that the     
pigment might crystallize hard at the   
edge4 ,and one of the chief delights    
which any one who really enjoys painting
 finds in that art as distinct from     
sculpture is in this exquisite inlaying 
or joiner's work of it1 the fitting of  
edge to edge with a manual skill        
precisely correspondent to the close    
application of crowded notes without the

 least slur1 in fine harp or piano      
playing4  #fh4 ,in many of the finest   
works of color on a large scale there is
 even some admission of the quality     
given to a painted window by the dark   
lead bars between the pieces of glass4  
,both ,tintoret and ,veronese1 when they
 paint on dark grounds1 continually stop
 short with their tints just before they
 touch others1 leaving the dark ground  
showing between in a narrow bar4 ,in the
 ,paul ,veronese in the ,national       
,gallery1 you will every here and there 
find pieces of outline1 like this of    
,holbein's2 which you would suppose were
 drawn1 as that is1 with a brown pencil4
 ,but no6 ,look close1 and you will find
 they are the dark ground1 left between 
two tints brought close to each other   
without touching4  ,illustration3 ,,the 
,,lady ,,with ,,the ,,brooch4  ,from the
 painting by ,reynolds4  #fi4 ,it       
follows also from this law of           
construction that any master who can    
color can always do any pane of his     

window that he likes1 separately from   
the rest4 ,thus1 you see1 here is one of
 ,sir ,joshua's first sittings3 the head
 is very nearly done with the first     
color2 a piece of background is put in  
round it3 his sitter has had a pretty   
silver brooch on1 which ,reynolds1      
having done as much as he chose to the  
face for that time1 paints quietly in   
its place below1 leaving the dress      
between to be fitted in afterwards2 and 
he puts a little patch of the yellow    
gown that is to be1 at the side4 ,and it
 follows also from this law of          
construction that there must never be   
any hesitation or repentance in the     
direction of your lines of limit4 ,so   
that not only in the beautiful dexterity
 of the joiner's work1 but in the       
necessity of cutting out each piece of  
color at once and forever 7for1 though  
you can correct an erroneous junction of
 black and white because the gray       
between has the nature of either1 you   
cannot correct an erroneous junction of 

red and green which make a neutral      
between them1 if they overlap1 that is  
neither red nor green73 thus the        
practice of color educates at once in   
neatness of hand and distinctness of    
will2 so that1 as ,i wrote long ago in  
the third volume of ,modern ,painters1  
you are always safe if you hold the hand
 of a colorist4  #gj4 ,i have brought   
you a little sketch to-day from the     
foreground of a ,venetian picture1 in   
which there is a bit that will show you 
this precision of method4 ,it is the    
head of a parrot with a little flower in
 his beak from a picture of             
,carpaccio's1 one of his series of the  
,life of ,st4 ,george4 ,i could not get 
the curves of the leaves1 and they are  
patched and spoiled2 but the parrot's   
head1 however badly done1 is put down   
with no more touches than the ,venetian 
gave it1 and it will show you exactly   
his method4 ,first1 a thin1 warm ground 
had been laid over the whole canvas1    
which ,carpaccio wanted as an           

under-current through all the color1    
just as there is an under-current of    
gray in the ,loire drawings4 ,then on   
this he strikes his parrot in vermilion1
 almost flat color2 rounding a little   
only with a glaze of lake2 but attending
 mainly to get the character of the bird
 by the pure outline of its form1 as if 
it were cut out of a piece of ruby      
glass4  ,then he comes to the beak of   
it4 ,the brown ground beneath is left1  
for the most part2 one touch of black is
 put for the hollow2 two delicate lines 
of dark gray define the outer curve2 and
 one little quivering touch of white    
draws the inner edge of the mandible4   
,there are just four touches--fine as   
the finest penmanship--to do that beak2 
and yet you will find that in the       
peculiar paroquettish mumbling and      
nibbling action of it1 and all the      
character in which this nibbling beak   
differs from the tearing beak of the    
eagle1 it is impossible to go farther or
 be more precise4 ,and this is only an  

incident1 remember1 in a large picture4 
#ga4 ,let me notice1 in passing1 the    
infinite absurdity of ever hanging      
,venetian pictures above the line of    
sight4 ,there are very few persons in   
the room who will be able to see the    
drawing of this bird's beak without a   
magnifying-glass2 yet it is ten to one  
that in any modern gallery such a       
picture would be hung thirty feet from  
the ground4  ,here1 again1 is a little  
bit to show ,carpaccio's execution4 ,it 
is his signature3 only a little         
wall-lizard1 holding the paper in its   
mouth1 perfect2 yet so small that you   
can scarcely see its feet1 and that ,i  
could not1 with my finest-pointed brush1
 copy their stealthy action4  #gb4 ,and 
now1 ,i think1 the members of my class  
will more readily pardon the intensely  
irksome work ,i put them to1 with the   
compasses and the ruler4 ,measurement   
and precision are1 with me1 before all  
things2 just because1 though myself     
trained wholly in the chiaroscuro       

schools1 ,i know the value of color2 and
 ,i want you to begin with color in the 
very outset1 and to see everything as   
children would see it4 ,for1 believe me1
 the final philosophy of art can only   
ratify their opinion that the beauty of 
a cock robin is to be red1 and of a     
grass-plot to be green2 and the best    
skill of art is in instantly seizing on 
the manifold deliciousness of light1    
which you can only seize by precision of
 instantaneous touch4 ,of course1 ,i    
cannot do so myself2 yet in these       
sketches of mine1 made for the sake of  
color1 there is enough to show you the  
nature and the value of the method4     
,they are two pieces of study of the    
color of marble architecture1 the tints 
literally edified1 and laid edge to edge
 as simply on the paper as the stones   
are on the walls4  #gc4 ,but please note
 in them one thing especially4 ,the     
testing rule ,i gave for good color in  
the ,elements of ,drawing1 is that you  
make the white precious and the black   

conspicuous4 ,now you will see in these 
studies that the moment the white is    
inclosed properly1 and harmonized with  
the other hues1 it becomes somehow more 
precious and pearly than the white      
paper2 and that ,i am not afraid to     
leave a whole field of untreated white  
paper all round it1 being sure that even
 the little diamonds in the round window
 will tell as jewels1 if they are       
gradated justly4  ,again1 there is not a
 touch of black in any shadow1 however  
deep1 of these two studies2 so that1 if 
,i chose to put a piece of black near   
them1 it would be conspicuous with a    
vengeance4  ,but in this vignette1      
copied from ,turner1 you have the two   
principles brought out perfectly4 ,you  
have the white of foaming water1 of     
buildings and clouds1 brought out       
brilliantly from a white ground2 and    
though part of the subject is in deep   
shadow the eye at once catches the one  
black point admitted in front4  #gd4    
,well1 the first reason that ,i gave you

 these ,loire drawings was this of their
 infallible decision2 the second was    
their extreme modesty in color4 ,they   
are1 beyond all other works that ,i know
 existing1 dependent for their effect on
 low1 subdued tones2 their favorite     
choice in time of day being either dawn 
or twilight1 and even their brightest   
sunsets produced chiefly out of gray    
paper4 ,this last1 the loveliest of all1
 gives the warmth of a summer twilight  
with a tinge of color on the gray paper 
so slight that it may be a question with
 some of you whether any is there4 ,and 
,i must beg you to observe1 and receive 
as a rule without any exception1 that   
whether color be gay or sad the value of
 it depends never on violence1 but      
always on subtlety4 ,it may be that a   
great colorist will use his utmost force
 of color1 as a singer his full power of
 voice2 but1 loud or low1 the virtue is 
in both cases always in refinement1     
never in loudness4 ,the west window of  
,chartres is bedropped with crimson     

deeper than blood2 but it is as soft as 
it is deep1 and as quiet as the light of
 dawn4  #ge4 ,i say1 whether color be   
gay or sad4 ,it must1 remember1 be one  
or the other4 ,you know ,i told you that
 the pure ,gothic school of color was   
entirety cheerful2 that1 as applied to  
landscape1 it assumes that all nature is
 lovely1 and may be clearly seen2 that  
destruction and decay are accidents of  
our present state1 never to be thought  
of seriously1 and1 above all things1    
never to be painted2 but that whatever  
is orderly1 healthy1 radiant1 fruitful  
and beautiful1 is to be loved with all  
our hearts and painted with all our     
skill4  #gf4 ,i told you also that no   
complete system of art for either       
natural history or landscape could be   
formed on this system2 that the wrath of
 a wild beast1 and the tossing of a     
mountain torrent are equally impossible 
to a painter of the purist school2 that 
in higher fields of thought increasing  
knowledge means increasing sorrow1 and  

every art which has complete sympathy   
with humanity must be chastened by the  
sight and oppressed by the memory of    
pain4 ,but there is no reason why your  
system of study should be a complete    
one1 if it be right and profitable      
though incomplete4 ,if you can find it  
in your hearts to follow out only the   
,gothic thoughts of landscape1 ,i deeply
 wish you would1 and for many reasons4  
#gg4 ,first1 it has never yet received  
due development2 for at the moment when 
artistic skill and knowledge of effect  
became sufficient to complete its       
purposes1 the ,reformation destroyed the
 faith in which they might have been    
accomplished2 for to the whole body of  
powerful draughtsmen the ,reformation   
meant the ,greek school and the shadow  
of death4 ,so that of exquisitely       
developed ,gothic landscape you may     
count the examples on the fingers of    
your hand3 ,van ,eyck's ,adoration of   
the ,lamb at ,bruges2 another little    
,van ,eyck in the ,louvre2 the ,john    

,bellini lately presented to the        
,national ,gallery2#ab another ,john    
,bellini in ,rome3 and the ,st4 ,george 
of ,carpaccio at ,venice1 are all that  
,i can name myself of great works4 ,but 
there exist some exquisite1 though      
feebler1 designs in missal painting2 of 
which1 in ,england1 the landscape and   
flowers in the ,psalter of ,henry the   
,sixth will serve you for a sufficient  
type2 the landscape in the ,grimani     
missal at ,venice being monumentally    
typical and perfect4  ,footnote #ab3    
,no4 #hab4 ,landscape1 with the ,death  
of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr4  #gh4 ,now for  
your own practice in this1 having first 
acquired the skill of exquisite         
delineation and laying of pure color1   
day by day you must draw some lovely    
natural form or flower or animal without
 obscurity--as in missal painting2      
choosing for study1 in natural scenes1  
only what is beautiful and strong in    
life4  #gi4 ,i fully anticipated1 at the
 beginning of the ,pre-,raphaelite      

movement1 that they would have carried  
forward this method of work2 but they   
broke themselves to pieces by pursuing  
dramatic sensation instead of beauty4   
,so that to this day all the loveliest  
things in the world remain unpainted2   
and although we have occasionally       
spasmodic efforts and fits of           
enthusiasm1 and green meadows and       
apple-blossom to spare1 it yet remains a
 fact that not in all this ,england1 and
 still less in ,france1 have you a      
painter who has been able nobly to paint
 so much as a hedge of wild roses or a  
forest glade full of anemones or        
wood-sorrel4  #hj4 ,one reason of this  
has been the idea that such work was    
easy1 on the part of the young men who  
attempted it1 and the total vulgarity   
and want of education in the great body 
of abler artists1 rendering them        
insensitive to qualities of fine        
delineation2 the universal law for them 
being that they can draw a pig1 but not 
a ,venus4 ,for instance1 two            

landscape-painters of much reputation in
 ,england1 and one of them in ,france   
also--,david ,cox and ,john ,constable1 
represent a form of blunt and untrained 
faculty which in being very frank and   
simple1 apparently powerful1 and needing
 no thought1 intelligence or trouble    
whatever to observe1 and being wholly   
disorderly1 slovenly and licentious1 and
 therein meeting with instant sympathy  
from the disorderly public mind now     
resentful of every trammel and ignorant 
of every law--these two men1 ,i say1    
represent in their intensity the        
qualities adverse to all accurate       
science or skill in landscape art2 their
 work being the mere blundering of      
clever peasants1 and deserving no name  
whatever in any school of true practice1
 but consummately mischievous--first1 in
 its easy satisfaction of the painter's 
own self-complacencies1 and then in the 
pretense of ability which blinds the    
public to all the virtue of patience and
 to all the difficulty of precision4    

,there is more real relation to the     
great schools of art1 more fellowship   
with ,bellini and ,titian1 in the       
humblest painter of letters on village  
signboards than in men like these4  ,do 
not1 therefore1 think that the ,gothic  
school is an easy one4 ,you might more  
easily fill a house with pictures like  
,constable's from garret to cellar1 than
 imitate one cluster of leaves by ,van  
,eyck or ,giotto2 and among all the     
efforts that have been made to paint our
 common wild-flowers1 ,i have only      
once--and that in this very year1 just  
in time to show it to you--seen the     
thing done rightly4  #ha4 ,but now      
observe3 ,these flowers1 beautiful as   
they are1 are not of the ,gothic school4
 ,the law of that school is that        
everything shall be seen clearly1 or at 
least1 only in such mist or faintness as
 shall be delightful2 and ,i have no    
doubt that the best introduction to it  
would be the elementary practice of     
painting every study on a golden ground4

 ,this at once compels you to understand
 that the work is to be imaginative and 
decorative2 that it represents beautiful
 things in the clearest way1 but not    
under existing conditions2 and that1 in 
fact1 you are producing jeweler's work1 
rather than pictures4 ,then the         
qualities of grace in design become     
paramount to every other2 and you may   
afterwards substitute clear sky for the 
golden background without danger of loss
 or sacrifice of system3 clear sky of   
golden light1 or deep and full blue1 for
 the full blue of ,titian is just as    
much a piece of conventional enameled   
background as if it were a plate of     
gold2 that depth of blue in relation to 
foreground objects being wholly         
impossible4  #hb4 ,there is another     
immense advantage in this ,byzantine and
 ,gothic abstraction of decisive form1  
when it is joined with a faithful desire
 of whatever truth can be expressed on  
narrow conditions4 ,it makes us observe 
the vital points in which character     

consists1 and educates the eye and mind 
in the habit of fastening and limiting  
themselves to essentials4 ,in complete  
drawing1 one is continually liable to be
 led aside from the main points by      
picturesque accidents of light and      
shade2 in ,gothic drawing you must get  
the character1 if at all1 by a keenness 
of analysis which must be in constant   
exercise4  #hc4 ,and here ,i must beg of
 you very earnestly1 once for all1 to   
clear your minds of any misapprehension 
of the nature of ,gothic art1 as if it  
implied error and weakness1 instead of  
severity4 ,that a style is restrained or
 severe does not mean that it is also   
erroneous4 ,much mischief has been      
done--endless misapprehension induced in
 this matter--by the blundering         
religious painters of ,germany1 who have
 become examples of the opposite error  
from our ,english painters of the       
,constable group4 ,our uneducated men   
work too bluntly to be ever in the      
right2 but the ,germans draw finely and 

resolutely wrong4 ,here is a ,riposo of 
,overbeck's for instance1 which the     
painter imagined to be elevated in style
 because he had drawn it without light  
and shade1 and with absolute decision3  
and so far1 indeed1 it is ,gothic       
enough2 but it is separated             
everlastingly from ,gothic and from all 
other living work1 because the painter  
was too vain to look at anything he had 
to paint1 and drew every mass of his    
drapery in lines that were as impossible
 as they were stiff1 and stretched out  
the limbs of his ,madonna in actions as 
unlikely as they are uncomfortable4  ,in
 all early ,gothic art1 indeed1 you will
 find failure of this kind1 especially  
distortion and rigidity1 which are in   
many respects painfully to be compared  
with the splendid repose of classic art4
 ,but the distortion is not ,gothic2 the
 intensity1 the abstraction1 the force  
of character are1 and the beauty of     
color4  #hd4 ,here is a very imperfect1 
but illustrative border of flowers and  

animals on a golden ground4 ,the large  
letter contains1 indeed1 entirely feeble
 and ill-drawn figures3 that is merely  
childish and failing work of an inferior
 hand2 it is not characteristic of      
,gothic1 or any other school4 ,but this 
peacock1 being drawn with intense       
delight in blue1 on gold1 and getting   
character of peacock in the general     
sharp outline1 instead of--as ,rubens'  
peacocks--in black shadow1 is           
distinctively ,gothic of fine style4    
#he4 ,i wish you therefore to begin your
 study of natural history and landscape 
by discerning the simple outlines and   
the pleasant colors of things2 and to   
rest in them as long as you can4 ,but1  
observe1 you can only do this on one    
condition--that of striving also to     
create1 in reality1 the beauty which you
 seek in imagination4 ,it will be wholly
 impossible for you to retain the       
tranquillity of temper and felicity of  
faith necessary for noble purist        
painting1 unless you are actively       

engaged in promoting the felicity and   
peace of practical life4 ,none of this  
bright ,gothic art was ever done but    
either by faith in the attainableness of
 felicity in heaven1 or under conditions
 of real order and delicate loveliness  
on the earth4  #hf4 ,as long as ,i can  
possibly keep you among them1 there you 
shall stay--among the almond and apple  
blossom4 ,but if you go on into the     
veracities of the school of ,clay1 you  
will find there is something at the     
roots of almond and apple trees1 which  
is--,this4 ,you must look at him in the 
face--fight him--conquer him with what  
scathe you may3 you need not think to   
keep out of the way of him4 ,there is   
,turner's ,dragon2 there is ,michael    
,angelo's2 there1 a very little one of  
,carpaccio's4 ,every soul of them had to
 understand the creature1 and very      
earnestly4  #hg4 ,not that ,michael     
,angelo understands his dragon as the   
others do4 ,he was not enough a colorist
 either to catch the points of the      

creature's aspect1 or to feel the same  
hatred of them2 but ,i confess myself   
always amazed in looking at ,michael    
,angelo's work here or elsewhere1 at his
 total carelessness of anatomical       
character except only in the human body4
 ,it is very easy to round a dragon's   
neck1 if the only idea you have of it is
 that it is virtually no more than a    
coiled sausage2 and1 besides1 anybody   
can round anything if you have full     
scale from white high light to black    
shadow4  #hh4 ,but look here at         
,carpaccio1 even in my copy4 ,the       
colorist says1 ,first of all1 as my     
delicious paroquet was ruby1 so this    
nasty viper shall be black2 and then is 
the question1 ,can ,i round him off1    
even though he is black1 and make him   
slimy1 and yet springy1 and close       
down--clotted like a pool of black blood
 on the earth--all the same8 ,look at   
him beside ,michael ,angelo's1 and then 
tell me the ,venetians can't draw6 ,and 
also1 ,carpaccio does it with a touch1  

with one sweep of his brush2 three      
minutes at the most allowed for all the 
beast2 while ,michael ,angelo has been  
haggling at this dragon's neck for an   
hour4  #hi4 ,then note also in ,turner's
 that clinging to the earth--the        
specialty of him--il gran nemico1 the   
great enemy1 ,plutus4 ,his claws are    
like the ,clefts of the ,rock2 his      
shoulders like its pinnacles2 his belly 
deep into its every fissure--glued      
down--loaded down2 his bat's wings      
cannot lift him1 they are rudimentary   
wings only4  #ij4 ,before ,i tell you   
what he means himself1 you must know    
what all this smoke about him means4    
,nothing will be more precious to you1  
,i think1 in the practical study of art1
 than the conviction1 which will force  
itself on you more and more every hour1 
of the way all things are bound         
together1 little and great1 in spirit   
and in matter4 ,so that if you get once 
the right clue to any group of them1 it 
will grasp the simplest1 yet reach to   

the highest truths4 ,you know ,i have   
just been telling you how this school of
 materialism and clay involved itself at
 last in cloud and fire4 ,now1 down to  
the least detail of method and subject1 
that will hold4  #ia4 ,here is a perfect
 type1 though not a complex one1 of     
,gothic landscape2 the background gold1 
the trees drawn leaf by leaf1 and full  
green in color--no effect of light4     
,here is an equally typical             
,greek-school landscape1 by             
,wilson--lost wholly in golden mist2 the
 trees so slightly drawn that you don't 
know if they are trees or towers1 and no
 care for color whatever2 perfectly     
deceptive and marvelous effect of       
sunshine through the mist--,apollo and  
the ,python4 ,now here is ,raphael1     
exactly between the two--trees still    
drawn leaf by leaf1 wholly formal2 but  
beautiful mist coming gradually into the
 distance4 ,well1 then1 last1 here is   
,turner's2 ,greek-school of the highest 
class2 and you define his art1          

absolutely1 as first the displaying     
intensely1 and with the sternest        
intellect1 of natural form as it is1 and
 then the envelopment of it with cloud  
and fire4 ,only1 there are two sorts of 
cloud and fire4 ,he knows them both4    
,there's one1 and there's another--the  
,dudley and the ,flint4 ,that's what the
 cloud and flame of the dragon mean3    
now1 let me show you what the dragon    
means himself4  #ib4 ,i go back to      
another perfect landscape of the living 
,gothic school4 ,it is only a pencil    
outline1 by ,edward ,burne-,jones1 in   
illustration of the story of ,psyche2 it
 is the introduction of ,psyche1 after  
all her troubles1 into heaven4  ,now in 
this of ,burne-,jones1 the landscape is 
clearly full of light everywhere1 color 
or glass light3 that is1 the outline is 
prepared for modification of color only4
 ,every plant in the grass is set       
formally1 grows perfectly1 and may be   
realized completely4 ,exquisite order1  
and universal1 with eternal life and    

light1 this is the faith and effort of  
the schools of ,crystal2 and you may    
describe and complete their work quite  
literally by taking any verses of       
,chaucer in his tender mood1 and        
observing how he insists on the         
clearness and brightness first1 and then
 on the order4 ,thus1 in ,chaucer's     
,dream3       ,within an yle me thought 
,i was1      ,where wall and yate was   
all of glasse1      ,and so was closed  
round about      ,that leavelesse none  
come in ne out1      ,uncouth and       
straunge to beholde1      ,for every    
yate of fine golde      ,a thousand     
fanes1 aie turning1      ,entuned had1  
and briddes singing      ,divers1 and on
 each fane a paire      ,with open mouth
 again here2      ,and of a sute were   
all the toures      ,subtily corven     
after floures1      ,of uncouth colors  
during aye      ,that never been none   
seene in ,may4  #ic4 ,next to this      
drawing of ,psyche ,i place two of      
,turner's most beautiful classical      

landscapes4 ,at once you are out of the 
open daylight1 either in sunshine       
admitted partially through trembling    
leaves1 or in the last rays of its      
setting1 scarcely any more warm on the  
darkness of the ilex wood4 ,in both1 the
 vegetation1 though beautiful1 is       
absolutely wild and uncared for1 as it  
seems1 either by human or by higher     
powers1 which1 having appointed for it  
the laws of its being1 leave it to      
spring into such beauty as is consistent
 with disease and alternate with decay4 
,illustration3 ,,sacus ,,and ,,hesperie4
  ,from the painting by ,turner4  ,in   
the purest landscape1 the human subject 
is the immortality of the soul by the   
faithfulness of love3 in both the       
,turner landscapes it is the death of   
the body by the impatience and error of 
love4 ,the one is the first glimpse of  
,hesperia to sacus3#ac       ,aspicit   
,hesperien patria ,cebrenida ripa1      
,injectos humeris siccantem sole        
capillos3  in a few moments to lose her 

forever4 ,the other is a mythological   
subject of deeper meaning1 the death of 
,procris4  ,footnote #ac3 ,ovid1        
,metamorphoses1 ,,xi4 #gfi4  #id4 ,i    
just now referred to the landscape by   
,john ,bellini in the ,national ,gallery
 as one of the six best existing of the 
purist school1 being wholly felicitous  
and enjoyable4 ,in the foreground of it 
indeed is the martyrdom of ,peter       
,martyr2 but ,john ,bellini looks upon  
that as an entirely cheerful and        
pleasing incident2 it does not disturb  
or even surprise him1 much less         
displease in the slightest degree4      
,now1 the next best landscape#ad to     
this1 in the ,national ,gallery1 is a   
,florentine one on the edge of          
transition to the ,greek feeling2 and in
 that the distance is still beautiful1  
but misty1 not clear2 the flowers are   
still beautiful1 but--intentionally--of 
the color of blood2 and in the          
foreground lies the dead body of        
,procris1 which disturbs the poor       

painter greatly2 and he has expressed   
his disturbed mind about it in the      
figure of a poor little brown--nearly   
black--,faun1 or perhaps the god ,faunus
 himself1 who is much puzzled by the    
death of ,procris1 and stoops over her1 
thinking it a woeful thing to find her  
pretty body lying there breathless1 and 
all spotted with blood on the breast4   
,footnote #ad3 7,of the ,purist school47
  #ie4 ,you remember ,i told you how the
 earthly power that is necessary in art 
was shown by the flight of ,ddalus to   
the ,greek3 herpeton ,minos4 ,look for  
yourselves at the story of ,procris as  
related to ,minos in the fifteenth      
chapter of the third book of            
,apollodorus2 and you will see why it is
 a ,faun who is put to wonder at her1   
she having escaped by artifice from the 
,bestial power of ,minos4 ,yet she is   
wholly an earth-nymph1 and the son of   
,aurora must not only leave her1 but    
himself slay her2 the myth of ,semele   
desiring to see ,zeus1 and of ,apollo   

and ,coronis1 and this having all the   
same main interest4 ,once understand    
that1 and you will see why ,turner has  
put her death under this deep shade of  
trees1 the sun withdrawing his last ray2
 and why he has put beside her the low  
type of an animal's pain1 a dog licking 
its wounded paw4  #if4 ,but now1 ,i want
 you to understand ,turner's depth of   
sympathy farther still4 ,in both these  
high mythical subjects the surrounding  
nature1 though suffering1 is still      
dignified and beautiful4 ,every line in 
which the master traces it1 even where  
seemingly negligent1 is lovely1 and set 
down with a meditative calmness which   
makes these two etchings capable of     
being placed beside the most tranquil   
work of ,holbein or ,drer4 ,in this     
,cephalus especially1 note the extreme  
equality and serenity of every outline4 
,but now here is a subject of which you 
will wonder at first why ,turner drew it
 at all4 ,it has no beauty whatsoever1  
no specialty of picturesqueness2 and all

 its lines are cramped and poor4  ,the  
crampness and the poverty are all       
intended4 ,this is no longer to make us 
think of the death of happy souls1 but  
of the labor of unhappy ones2 at least1 
of the more or less limited1 dullest1   
and--,i must not say homely1            
but--unhomely life of the neglected     
agricultural poor4  ,it is a gleaner    
bringing down her one sheaf of corn to  
an old watermill1 itself mossy and rent1
 scarcely able to get its stones to     
turn4 ,an ill-bred dog stands1 joyless1 
by the unfenced stream2 two country boys
 lean1 joyless1 against a wall that is  
half broken down2 and all about the     
steps down which the girl is bringing   
her sheaf1 the bank of earth1 flowerless
 and rugged1 testifies only of its      
malignity2 and in the black and sternly 
rugged etching--no longer graceful1 but 
hard1 and broken in every touch--the    
master insists upon the ancient curse of
 the earth--,thorns also and ,thistles  
shall it bring forth to thee4  #ig4 ,and

 now you will see at once with what     
feeling ,turner completes1 in a more    
tender mood1 this lovely subject of his 
,yorkshire stream1 by giving it the     
conditions of pastoral and agricultural 
life2 the cattle by the pool1 the       
milkmaid crossing the bridge with her   
pail on her head1 the mill with the old 
millstones1 and its gleaming weir as his
 chief light led across behind the wild 
trees4  ,illustration3 ,,mill ,,near    
,,grande ,,chartreuse4  ,from the       
painting by ,turner4  #ih4 ,and not     
among our soft-flowing rivers only2 but 
here among the torrents of the ,great   
,chartreuse1 where another man would    
assuredly have drawn the monastery1     
,turner only draws their working mill4  
,and here ,i am able to show you1       
fortunately1 one of his works painted at
 this time of his most earnest thought2 
when his imagination was still freshly  
filled with the ,greek mythology1 and he
 saw for the first time with his own    
eyes the clouds come down upon the      

actual earth4  ,illustration3           
,l',,aiguillette1 ,,valley ,,of         
,,cluses4  ,from the painting by        
,turner4  #ii4 ,the scene is one which1 
in old times of ,swiss traveling1 you   
would all have known well2 a little     
cascade which descends to the road from 
,geneva to ,chamouni1 near the village  
of ,maglans1 from under a subordinate   
ridge of the ,aiguille de ,varens1 known
 as the ,aiguillette4 ,you1 none of you1
 probably1 know the scene now2 for your 
only object is to get to ,chamouni and  
up ,mont ,blanc and down again2 but the 
,valley of ,cluse1 if you knew it1 is   
worth many ,chamounis2 and it impressed 
,turner profoundly4 ,the facts of the   
spot are here given in mere and pure    
simplicity2 a quite unpicturesque       
bridge1 a few trees partly stunted and  
blasted by the violence of the torrent  
in storm at their roots1 a cottage with 
its mill-wheel--this has lately been    
pulled down to widen the road--and the  
brook shed from the rocks and finding   

its way to join the ,arve4 ,the scene is
 absolutely ,arcadian4 ,all the         
traditions of the ,greek ,hills1 in     
their purity1 were founded on such rocks
 and shadows as these2 and ,turner has  
given you the birth of the ,shepherd    
,hermes on ,cyllene1 in its visible and 
solemn presence1 the white cloud1       
,hermes ,eriophoros forming out of      
heaven upon the ,hills2 the brook1      
distilled from it1 as the type of human 
life1 born of the cloud and vanishing   
into the cloud1 led down by the haunting
 ,hermes among the ravines2 and then1   
like the reflection of the cloud itself1
 the white sheep1 with the dog of ,argus
 guarding them1 drinking from the       
stream4  #ajj4 ,and now1 do you see why 
,i gave you1 for the beginning of your  
types of landscape thought1 that        
,junction of ,tees and ,greta in their  
misty ravines2 and this glen of the     
,greta above1 in which ,turner has      
indeed done his best to paint the trees 
that live again after their autumn--the 

twilight that will rise again with      
twilight of dawn--the stream that flows 
always1 and the resting on the cliffs of
 the clouds that return if they vanish2 
but of human life1 he says1 a boy       
climbing among the trees for his        
entangled kite1 and these white stones  
in the mountain churchyard1 show forth  
all the strength and all the end4  #aja4
 ,you think that saying of the ,greek   
school--,pindar's summary of it1 ,greek3
 ti de tis2 ti d'ou tis2#ae--;a         
sorrowful and degrading lesson4 ,see at 
least1 then1 that you reach the level of
 such degradation4 ,see that your lives 
be in nothing worse than a boy's        
climbing for his entangled kite4 ,it    
will be well for you if you join not    
with those who instead of kites fly     
falcons2 who instead of obeying the last
 words of the great ,cloud-,shepherd--to
 feed his sheep1 live the lives--how    
much less than vanity6--of the war-wolf 
and the gier-eagle4 ,or1 do you think it
 a dishonor to man to say to him that   

,death is but only ,rest8 ,see that when
 it draws near to you1 you may look to  
it1 at least for sweetness of ,rest2 and
 that you recognize the ,lord of ,death 
coming to you as a ,shepherd gathering  
you into his ,fold for the night4       
,footnote #ae3 ,pyth4 viii4 #ie4 7#ace47