on dealt with, so far as possible. Early Christian Art was
recognised--almost beyond its claims. The Pre-Raphaelites and
naturalistic landscapists no longer needed the hand which "Modern
Painters" had held out to them by the way. Of the great triad of Venice,
Tintoret had been expounded, Veronese and Titian were now taken up and
treated with tardy, but ample recognition.

And now, after twenty years of labour, Ruskin had established himself as
the recognised leader of criticism and the exponent of painting and
architecture. He had created a department of literature all his own. He
had enriched the art of England with examples of a new and beautiful
draughtsmanship, and the language with passages of poetic description
and eloquent declamation, quite, in their way, unrivalled. He had built
up a theory of art, so far uncontested; and thrown new light on the
Middle Ages and Renaissance, illustrating, in a way then novel, their
chronicles by their remains. He had beaten down opposition, risen above
detraction, and won the prize of honour--only to realise, as he received
it, that the fight had been but a pastime tournament, after all; and to
hear, through the applause, the enemy's trumpet sounding to battle. For
now, without the camp, there were realities to face; as to Art--"the
best in this kind are but shadows."

BOOK III

HERMIT AND HERETIC

(1860-1870)

CHAPTER I

"UNTO THIS LAST" (1860-1861)

At forty years of age Ruskin finished "Modern Painters." From that time
art was sometimes his text, rarely his theme. He used it as the
opportunity, the vehicle, so to say, for teachings of wider range and
deeper import; teachings about life as a whole, conclusions in ethics
and economics and religion, to which he sought to lead others, as he was
led, by the way of art.

During the time when he was preaching his later doctrines, he wished to
suppress the interfering evidences of the earlier. He let his works on
art run out of print, not for the benefit of second-hand booksellers,
but in the hope that he could fix his audience upon the burden of his
prophecy for the time being. But the youthful works were still read;
high prices were paid for them, or they were smuggled in from America.
And when the epoch of "Fors" had passed, he agreed to the reprinting of
all that early material. He called it obsolete and trivial; others find
it interestingly biographical--perhaps even classical.

This year, then, 1860, t