hough
the artist may not flout the universe, he shows his carelessness of
natural fact and needs the snubbing. It is in this range that the little
critic walks triumphantly posing as a shrewd and a discerning one. He
holds up inconsistencies with his deft thumb and finger and cries, "what a
smart boy am I." And yet in spite of him Rubens, for the sake of a better
line in the foreground of one of his greatest compositions dares to
reconstruct a horse with his head issuing from his hind quarters, allowing
the tail to serve as the mane, and Turner kept on drawing castles all
wrong.

But these critics have their place. Even Ruskin accepted this as a part of
his work.

There are occasions, as every artist will admit, when the artless critic
with his crude commonplaces is most welcome.

As to the violator of _art principles,_ his range in art must perforce be
short, his reward a smile of pity, his finish suicide. Originality may
find all the latitude it requires within the limits of Art Principles.

Ruskin in his principles of drawing enumerates these as "Principality,
i.e., a chief object in a picture to which others point: Repetition, the
doubling of objects gives quietude: Symmetry develops solemnity, but in
landscape it must be balanced, not formal. Continuity: as in a succession
of pillars or promontories or clouds involving change and relief, or else
it would be mere monotonous repetition. Curvature: all beautiful objects
are bounded by infinite curves, that is to say, of infinitely changing
direction, or else made up of an infinite number of subordinate curves.
Radiation: illustrated in leaves and boughs and in the structure of
organic bodies. Contrast: of shapes and substances and of general lines;
being the complement of the law of continuity, contrast of light and shade
not being enough. Interchange: as in heraldic quartering. Consistency: or
breadth overriding petty contrast and giving the effect of aggregate color
or form. Harmony: art is an abstract and must be harmoniously abstracted,
keeping the relations of values."

With the above principles of composition Mr. Ruskin aims to cover the
field of architecture, sculpture and painting, and he declares there are
doubtless others which he cannot define "and these the most important and
connected with the deepest powers of art. The best part of every work of
art is inexplicable. It is good because it is good."

Mr. Hamerton enumerates the duties of t