Ruskin, John: The elements of drawing: in three letters to beginners (London, 1857)

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the elements op drawing. [letter i.

simile, though you took a twelvemonth's time to a
tree; and you must therefore try to discover some
mode of execution which will more or less imitate,
by its own variety and mystery, the variety and
mystery of Nature, without absolute delineation of
detail.

Now I have led you to this conclusion by observa-
tion of tree form only, because in that the thing to
be proved is clearest. But no natural object ex-
ists which does not involve in some part or parts
of it this inimitableness, this mystery of quantity,
which needs peculiarity of handling and trick of
touch to express it completely. If leaves are intri-
cate, so is moss, so is foam, so is rock cleavage, so are
fur and hair, and texture of drapery, and of clouds.
And although methods and dexterities of handling
are wholly useless if you have not gained first the
thorough knowledge of the form of the thing; so
that if you cannot draw a branch perfectly, then
much less a tree; and if not a wreath of mist per-
fectly, much less a flock of clouds; and if not a
single grass blade perfectly, much less a grass bank;