Ruskin, John; Cook, Edward T. [Editor]: The works of John Ruskin: The elements of drawing. The elements of perspective. And the laws of Fésole (London, 1904)

III. ON COMPOSITION

171

order. If there be no change at all in the shape or size of
the objects, there is no continuity; there is only repetition
—monotony. It is the change in shape which suggests the
idea of their being individually free, and able to escape, if
they liked, from the law that rules them, and yet submitting
to it.
201. I will leave our chosen illustrative composition for
a moment to take up another, still more expressive of this


33
law. It is one of Turner's most tender studies, a sketch on
Calais Sands at sunset; * so delicate in the expression of
wave and cloud, that it is of no use for me to try to reach
it with any kind of outline in a woodcut; but the rough
sketch, Fig. 88, is enough to give an idea of its arrange-
ment. The aim of the painter has been to give the in-
tensest expression of repose, together with the enchanted,
lulling, monotonous motion of cloud and wave. All the
clouds are moving in innumerable ranks after the sun,
meeting towards that point in the horizon where he has set;
and the tidal waves gain in winding currents upon the sand,
with that stealthy haste in which they cross each other so

i [The editors are unable to trace this sketch.]