DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18975#0266
222
THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING
in them, with chalk on smooth paper, till you can lay on his broad Hat
tints, and get his gradations of light, which are very wonderful; then take
up the architectural subjects in the LAfac, and draw again and again the
groups of figures, etc., in his Afz'croco.s/M, and Le.s-.yo7M' oa LzgAf and -SAado?a.
After that, proceed to copy the grand subjects in the -S'AWcAe.y 777 LYaMder-y
and Ge7*?7?awy; or in <Swdaer/a7?d nad 7in/y, if you cannot get the Flanders ;
but the Switzerland is very far inferior. Then work from Nature, not
trying to Proutise Nature, by breaking smooth buildings into rough ones,
but only drawing 72d?af yo?/ -yee, with Prout's simple method and firm lines.
Don't copy his coloured works. They are good, but not at all equal to
his chalk and pencil drawings ; and you will become a mere imitator, and
a very feeble imitator, if you use colour at all in Prout's method. I have
not space to explain why this is so, it would take a long piece of reasoning ;
trust me for the statement.
2. JOHN LEWIS.
His sketches in Spain, lithographed by himself, are very valuable.
Get them, if you can, and also some engravings (about eight or ten, I
think, altogether) of wild beasts, executed by his own hand a long time
ago; they are very precious in every way. The series of the "Alhambra"
is rather slight, and few of the subjects are lithographed by himself; still
it is well worth having. 1
But let 770 lithographic work come into the house, if you can help it,
nor even look at any, except Prout's, and those sketches of Lewis's.
3. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
If you ever happen to meet with the two volumes of G7*Mn7n'g Gc7*7na7i
<SYonay, which were illustrated by him long ago,2 pounce upon them instantly;
the etchings in them are the finest things, next to Rembrandt's, that, as
far as I know, have been done since etching was invented. You cannot
look at them too much, nor copy them too often.
All his works are very valuable, though disagreeable when they touch on
the worst vulgarities of modern life; and often much spoiled by a curiously
mistaken type of face, divided so as to give too much to the mouth and eyes
and leave too little for forehead, the eyes being set about two thirds up,
1 [For another reference to Lewis's -SYadie# 0/* tFiid -daiaza/.s-, see Vol. XII. p. 363.
The other publications here referred to are : Lewis's -SAcfcAec and DT-awmyF 0/* 7*Ac
^4/Aa777 &7-n, wade da Way a 7*&yidonce fa G?*nnada fa 1833-1834, drawn oa cfoac Ay
J. D. Hardiny . . . a7id J. d'. T. : 1835, fol.; and Lewis's -S'AeicAca 0/' -Spain and -SpartiaA
C'Aarac^cr, /node daT-fay Aia Fwr i?7 fAaY eoM73f?*y 777 1833-1834, d7*awa oa .-done, ./row Aia
oriyinnJ -s-AWcAca, Ay Afaiaey.* 1836. For Ruskin's other references to Lewis, see General
Index.]
2 [Published in 1826; for another reference to it, see Vol. V. p. xxiii., and for
Cruikshank generally, see also Vol. II. p. xxxiii. and Vol. VI. p. 471. His Cfadcicf/a,
dacA and ^Ac /?ea?3R?a/A, and /Fop o' ?ny TAaa/A (for which Ruskin by a slip of the pen
wrote " T0773 TAaaiA ") were published in separate parts of Gcoryc 6'raiAcAnnA'.? -Fairy
FiArary (about 1854).]
THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING
in them, with chalk on smooth paper, till you can lay on his broad Hat
tints, and get his gradations of light, which are very wonderful; then take
up the architectural subjects in the LAfac, and draw again and again the
groups of figures, etc., in his Afz'croco.s/M, and Le.s-.yo7M' oa LzgAf and -SAado?a.
After that, proceed to copy the grand subjects in the -S'AWcAe.y 777 LYaMder-y
and Ge7*?7?awy; or in <Swdaer/a7?d nad 7in/y, if you cannot get the Flanders ;
but the Switzerland is very far inferior. Then work from Nature, not
trying to Proutise Nature, by breaking smooth buildings into rough ones,
but only drawing 72d?af yo?/ -yee, with Prout's simple method and firm lines.
Don't copy his coloured works. They are good, but not at all equal to
his chalk and pencil drawings ; and you will become a mere imitator, and
a very feeble imitator, if you use colour at all in Prout's method. I have
not space to explain why this is so, it would take a long piece of reasoning ;
trust me for the statement.
2. JOHN LEWIS.
His sketches in Spain, lithographed by himself, are very valuable.
Get them, if you can, and also some engravings (about eight or ten, I
think, altogether) of wild beasts, executed by his own hand a long time
ago; they are very precious in every way. The series of the "Alhambra"
is rather slight, and few of the subjects are lithographed by himself; still
it is well worth having. 1
But let 770 lithographic work come into the house, if you can help it,
nor even look at any, except Prout's, and those sketches of Lewis's.
3. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
If you ever happen to meet with the two volumes of G7*Mn7n'g Gc7*7na7i
<SYonay, which were illustrated by him long ago,2 pounce upon them instantly;
the etchings in them are the finest things, next to Rembrandt's, that, as
far as I know, have been done since etching was invented. You cannot
look at them too much, nor copy them too often.
All his works are very valuable, though disagreeable when they touch on
the worst vulgarities of modern life; and often much spoiled by a curiously
mistaken type of face, divided so as to give too much to the mouth and eyes
and leave too little for forehead, the eyes being set about two thirds up,
1 [For another reference to Lewis's -SYadie# 0/* tFiid -daiaza/.s-, see Vol. XII. p. 363.
The other publications here referred to are : Lewis's -SAcfcAec and DT-awmyF 0/* 7*Ac
^4/Aa777 &7-n, wade da Way a 7*&yidonce fa G?*nnada fa 1833-1834, drawn oa cfoac Ay
J. D. Hardiny . . . a7id J. d'. T. : 1835, fol.; and Lewis's -S'AeicAca 0/' -Spain and -SpartiaA
C'Aarac^cr, /node daT-fay Aia Fwr i?7 fAaY eoM73f?*y 777 1833-1834, d7*awa oa .-done, ./row Aia
oriyinnJ -s-AWcAca, Ay Afaiaey.* 1836. For Ruskin's other references to Lewis, see General
Index.]
2 [Published in 1826; for another reference to it, see Vol. V. p. xxiii., and for
Cruikshank generally, see also Vol. II. p. xxxiii. and Vol. VI. p. 471. His Cfadcicf/a,
dacA and ^Ac /?ea?3R?a/A, and /Fop o' ?ny TAaa/A (for which Ruskin by a slip of the pen
wrote " T0773 TAaaiA ") were published in separate parts of Gcoryc 6'raiAcAnnA'.? -Fairy
FiArary (about 1854).]