This Ruskin fellow always comes up with marvelous things to say! – which noble trait, by the way, is why I have stayed with him for so long. In yesterday’s post I made the case that, behind almost everything Ruskin wrote or spoke about was his abiding compassion for the world and its breathing beings and his desire to do all he could to alleviate the suffering he found about him (and there was plenty! there is still plenty!).
And so, this morning, by chance, I came across a brief passage from one of his Lectures on Art delivered to his Oxford students in the early 1870s (how I would’ve loved to be in those lecture halls!) He was appointed. Oxford’s first Slade Professor of Fine Art in 1869, and his primary charge was to teach those who would sit in the seats before him something about the importance of creating and maintaining a flow of great art in human affairs. In general, his assessment of the art which had been created after the Renaissance– with the exception of a few artists: Turner of course, and Sir Joshua Reynolds–had been on a downward spiral, and his intent was not merely to alert his students to this lamentable fact, but, subsequently, get them to identify with the greatest aet and artists in history and take up the cause of reinvigorating the finest art in English life.
But, as I said yesterday, always behind his principal theme was his great heart’s compassion for the well-being of humanity and his desire to increase its delight in life. The following pair of sentences from one of his lectures on art makes my point – and his! –again. It inspired me this morning and I hasten to share it with you in hopes of invigorating your day.
We may have splendor of art again, and, with that, we may praise and honor our Maker, and, with that, set forth the beauty and holiness of all He has made. But only after we have striven with our whole hearts first to sanctify the temple of the body and spirit of every child that has no roof to cover its head from the cold and no walls to guard its soul from corruption in this our English land .
Until next time! Please keep the spirit up out there!
🙂
Jim
whyruskin.wordpress.com 