36 THE STONES OF VENICE

been unknown or despised; the frescoes of the swift and daring Venetian painters long contended with the inlaid marbles, outvying them with colour, indeed more glorious than theirs, but fugitive as the hues of woods in autumn; and, at last, as the art itself of painting in this mighty manner failed from among men,* the modern decorative system established itself which united the meaninglessness of the veined marble with the evanescence of the fresco, and completed the harmony by falsehood.

§ 40. Since first, in the second chapter of the Seven Lamps,¹ I endeavoured to show the culpableness, as well as the baseness, of our common modes of decoration by painted imitation of various woods or marbles, the subject has been discussed in various architectural works,² and is evidently becoming one of daily increasing interest. When it is considered how many persons there are whose means of livelihood consist altogether in these spurious arts, and how difficult it is, even for the most candid, to admit a conviction contrary both to their interests and to their

* We have, as far as I know, at present among us, only one painter, G.F. Watts, who is capable of design in colour on a large scale. He stands alone among our artists of the old school in his perception of the value of breadth in distant masses, and in the vigour of invention by which such breadth must be sustained; and his power of expression and depth of thought are not less remarkable than his bold conception of colour effect. Very probably some of the Pre-Raphaelites have the gift also; I am nearly certain that Rossetti has it, and I think also Millais; but the experiment has yet to be tried. I wish it could be made in Mr. Hope’s church in Margaret Street.³

¹ [Vol. VIII. pp. 38, 72.]

² [An answer to Ruskin’s views on this subject was attempted in a brochure already referred to (Vol. IX. p. xliii.)-something on Ruskinism, by an Architect, pp. 35 seq.]

³ [To this note Ruskin added in the “Travellers’ Edition,” “Note written, I believe, in 1852.” The building of “Mr. Hope’s church”-All Saints’, Margaret Street-was an interesting event in the Gothic Revival. The Cambridge Camden Society (whose journal, the Ecclesiologist, has been referred to at Vol. VIII. p.xxxix.) conceived the project of a model church, which should realise Gothic principles architecturally, and be the home of high Anglican ritual. Mr. A.J. Beresford Hope and Sir Stephen Glynne were the executive for carrying out the scheme, and a sum of £70,000 was collected. The architect was Butterfield; the foundation-stone was laid by Dr. Pusey in 1849, and the building was completed in 1859. The fresco paintings were executed by W. Dyce, R.A. (for whom see Academy Notes, 1855 and 1857).]

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