pt. 1. Of general principles. pt. 2. Of truth - John Ruskin - Google Books

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OF TRUTH OF SKIES.

CHAPTER I. Of the Open Sky.

§ 1. The peculiar adaptation of the sky to the pleasing and teach-

§ 2. The carelessness with which its lessons are received. .

§ 3. The most essential of these lessons are the gentlest..

4. Many of our ideas of sky altogether conventional.

§ 5. Nature, and essential qualities of the open blue..

6. Its connection with clouds...

7. Its exceeding depth......

§ 8. These qualities are especially given by modern masters..

9. And by Claude....

§ 10. Total absence of them in Poussin. Physical errors in his

general treatment of open sky..

§ 11. Errors of Cuyp in graduation of color.....

§ 12. The exceeding value of the skies of the early Italian and

Dutch schools. Their qualities are unattainable in modern

§ 13. Phenomena of visible sunbeams. Their nature and cause... 211

§ 14. They are only illuminated mist, and cannot appear when the

sky is free from vapor, nor when it is without clouds..... 211

15. Erroneous tendency in the representation of such phenomena

by the old masters

16. The ray which appears in the dazzled eye should not be rep-

17. The practice of Turner. His keen perception of the more

delicate phenomena of rays.....

18. The total absence of any evidence of such perception in the

works of the old masters......

19. Truth of the skies of modern drawings..

§ 20. Recapitulation. The best skies of the ancients are, in qual-

ity, inimitable, but in rendering of various truth, childish. 215

CHAPTER II.—Of Truth of Clouds :-First, of the Region of

1. Difficulty of ascertaining wherein the truth of clouds consists. 216

§ 2. Variation of their character at different elevations. The

three regions to which they may conveniently be consid-

ered as belonging.....

3. Extent of the upper region..

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§ 9. Total absence of even the slightest effort at their representa-

tion, in ancient landscape................

§ 10. The intense and constant study of them by Turner..

§ 11. His vignette, Sunrise on the Sea......

12. His use of the cirrus in expressing mist..

§ 13. His consistency in every minor feature...

14. The color of the upper clouds......

§ 15. Recapitulation.......

CHAPTER III.-Of Truth of Clouds :-Secondly, of the Cen-

tral Cloud Region.

1. Extent and typical character of the central cloud region..... 226

§ 2. Its characteristic clouds, requiring no attention nor thought

for their representation, are therefore favorite subjects

with the old masters.....

3. The clouds of Salvator and Poussin..

4. Their essential characters..........

§ 5. Their angular forms and general decision of outline..

6. The composition of their minor curves...

§ 7. Their characters, as given by S. Rosa..

§ 8. Monotony and falsehood of the clouds of the Italian school

generally.......

9. Vast size of congregated masses of cloud..

§ 10. Demonstrable by comparison with mountain ranges..

§ 11. And consequent divisions and varieties of feature...

12. Not lightly to be omitted.......

§ 13. Imperfect conceptions of this size and extent in ancient land-

§ 14. Total want of transparency and evanescence in the clouds of

ancient landscape.....

15. Farther proof of their deficiency in space..

§ 16. Instance of perfect truth in the sky of Turner's Babylon.... 236

17. And in his Pools of Solomon.....

18. Truths of outline and character in his Como....

§19. Association of the cirrostratus with the cumulus..

§ 20. The deep-based knowledge of the Alps in Turner's Lake of

21 Farther principles of cloud form exemplified in his Amalfi... 239

§ 22. Reasons for insisting on the infinity of Turner's works. In-

finity is almost an unerring test of all truth.......

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§ 23. Instances of the total want of it in the works of Salvator.... 240

§ 24. And of the universal presence of it in those of Turner. The

conclusions which may be arrived at from it........

§ 25. The multiplication of objects, or increase of their size, will

not give the impression of infinity, but is the resource of

§ 26. Farther instances of infinity in the gray skies of Turner.

27. The excellence of the cloud-drawing of Stanfield......

§ 28. The average standing of the English school...

CHAPTER IV.—Of Truth of Clouds :-Thirdly, of the Region

of the Rain-Cloud.

§ 1. The apparent difference in character between the lower and

central clouds is dependent chiefly on proximity...

§ 2. Their marked differences in color.....

§ 3. And in definiteness of form......

§ 4. They are subject to precisely the same great laws...

§ 5. Value, to the painter, of the rain-cloud.....

§ 6. The old masters have not left a single instance of the paint-

ing of the rain-cloud, and very few efforts at it. Gaspar

Poussin's storms.

§ 7. The great power of the moderns in this respect...

§ 11. Impossibility of reasoning on the rain-clouds of Turner from

§ 12. His rendering of Fielding's particular moment in the Jumi-

§ 13. Illustration of the nature of clouds in the opposed forms of

smoke and steam.....

§ 14. Moment of retiring rain in the Llanthony..

§ 15. And of commencing, chosen with peculiar meaning for Loch

§ 16. The drawing of transparent vapor in the Land's End.

17. The individual character of its parts.....

§ 18. Deep-studied form of swift rain-cloud in the Coventry...... 254

§ 19. Compared with forms given by Salvator.....

§ 20. Entire expression of tempest by minute touches and circum-

stances in the Coventry.....

§ 21. Especially by contrast with a passage of extreme repose..... 255

§ 22. The truth of this particular passage. Perfectly pure blue

sky only seen after rain, and how seen.....

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§ 23. Absence of this effect in the works of the old masters....... 256

§ 24. Success of our water-color artists in its rendering. Use of it

§ 25. Expression of near rain-cloud in the Gosport, and other

§ 26. Contrasted with Gaspar Poussin's rain-cloud in the Dido and

§ 27. Turner's power of rendering mist...

§ 28. His effects of mist so perfect, that if not at once understood,

they can no more be explained or reasoned on than nature

herself............

§ 29. Various instances...

§ 30. Turner's more violent effects of tempest are never rendered

by engravers......

§ 31. General system of landscape engraving..

$32. The storm in the Stonehenge..

§ 33. General character of such effects as given by Turner. His

expression of falling rain.

§ 34. Recapitulation of the section...

§35. Sketch of a few of the skies of nature, taken as a whole,

compared with the works of Turner and of the old mas-

CHAPTER V.-Effects of Light rendered by Modern Art.

1. Reasons for merely, at present, naming, without examining

the particular effects of light rendered by Turner......... 266

§ 2. Hopes of the author for assistance in the future investigation

OF TRUTH OF EARTH.

CHAPTER I.—Of General Structure.

§ 1. First laws of the organization of the earth, and their im-

portance in art..

2. The slight attention ordinarily paid to them. Their careful

study by modern artists..

§ 3. General structure of the earth. The hills are its action, the

plains its rest.

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§ 4. Mountains come out from underneath the plains, and are

their support. . .

§ 5. Structure of the plains themselves. Their perfect level,

when deposited by quiet water...

§ 6. Illustrated by Turner's Marengo....

§ 7. General divisions of formation resulting from this arrange-

ment. Plan of investigation.....

CHAPTER II.-Of the Central Mountains.

§ 1. Similar character of the central peaks in all parts of the

§ 2. Their arrangements in pyramids or wedges, divided by verti-

cal fissures....

§ 3. Causing groups of rock resembling an artichoke or rose.....

§ 4. The faithful statement of these facts by Turner in his Alps

§ 5. Vignette of the Andes and others...

§ 6. Necessary distance, and consequent aerial effect on all such

§ 7. Total want of any rendering of their phenomena in ancient

§ 8. Character of the representations of Alps in the distances of

9. Their total want of magnitude and aerial distance..

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§ 14. Illustrated from the works of Turner and Stanfield. The

Borromean Islands of the latter.....

§ 15. Turner's Arona...

§ 16. Extreme distance of large objects always characterized by

§ 20. General principles of its forms on the Alps..

§ 21. Average paintings of Switzerland. Its real spirit has scarcely

yet been caught.... . . . . .

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