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

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THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING. [letter hi.

Then the spires of Cohlentz are all arranged in
couples (how they are arranged in reality does not
matter; when we are composing a great picture,
we must play the towers about till they come
right, as fearlessly as if they were chessmen -instead
of cathedrals). The dual arrangement of these
towers would have been too easily seen, were it not
for the little one which pretends to make a triad of
the last group on the right, but is so faint as hardly
to be discernible: it just takes off the attention from
the artifice, helped in doing so by the mast at the
head of the boat, which, however, has instantly its
own duplicate put at the stern.1 Then there is the
large boat near, and its echo beyond it. That echo
is divided into two again, and each of those two
smaller boats has two figures in it; while two
figures are also sitting together on the great rud-
der that lies half in the water, and half aground.

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1 This is obscure in the rude woodcut, the masts being so
delicate that they are confused among the lines of reflection.
In the original they have orange light upon them, relieved
against purple behind.