INTRODUCTION lxi

the wheel for pure spite.”¹ At the time, however, he thought that Cheney’s co-operation in the matter had been secured:-

“May 17.-... I enclose Sir C. Eastlake’s letter, which has given me a good deal to do in talking over Mr. Cheney, so as not to make him jealous. A word that piqued him might have spoiled all; however it is all right, only they ought to have told me this a fortnight ago. I fear it is now too late. I shall be at Verona when the Trustees give me their final answer, and can only set the thing in train, if anything can be done at all.”

But it was not “all right,” as will be seen by the following extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Trustees on June 7, 1852:-

“Read-A letter from Mr. Ruskin, at Venice, of the 19th May, addressed to Sir Charles Eastlake, and enclosing one from Mr. Cheney, in the former of which Mr. Ruskin stated that he is willing to undertake to procure for this Gallery two pictures by Tintoretto, the “Marriage at Cana” in the Madonna della Salute, and the “Crucifixion” in St. Cassiano; the former valued by him at £5000, the latter at £7000. But although he would use his endeavours to procure them at a less cost, he is unwilling to move in the matter, unless the Government will ultimately sanction the expenditure of £12,000 for the two pictures.

“Resolved-That the Trustees do not find themselves in a position to ask from the Government so considerable a sum as that required by Mr. Ruskin as the basis of his negotiation for the pictures in question, especially as Mr. Cheney does not entirely concur with him in his valuation of the works, and as the Trustees have not sufficient means of arriving at their true value; they therefore request that Sir Charles Eastlake will be so obliging as to communicate to Mr. Ruskin their unwillingness that he should proceed further in this matter.”²

So ended Ruskin’s attempt to procure for this country two of Tintoretto’s finest works. It was his first disappointment, in matters where he was personally concerned, in connexion with the National Gallery. The Turner Bequest was to be attended with other disappointments, yet more poignant-as we shall see hereafter.

In the summer of 1854, as has been stated above (p. xxxvii.), Ruskin went abroad with his parents, and in Switzerland he wrote the piece

¹ Præterita, iii. ch. ii. § 29, where Ruskin by a slip of memory dates the transaction in 1845. Cheney was an Englishman of antiquarian tastes resident in Venice: see the appendix to Ruskin’s Guide to the Academy at Venice.

² National Gallery Return, 1847-1852: House of Commons Papers, 1853, No. 104, p. 47.

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