INTRODUCTION xliii

In the present paper Ruskin does justice to Prout’s unerring eye for the picturesque, and his dexterity in rendering it. But he emphasises chiefly another point-namely, the unique value of this artist as an historian. Ruskin’s mind was much occupied at this time with the neglect and wanton destruction, and (no less disastrous) the well-meaning restoration, of ancient buildings.¹ It had been Prout’s mission to make records of these historical monuments, while they were still comparatively untouched; his work in this sort was valuable, and would be more than ever recognised at its true worth “when the pillars of Venice shall lie mouldering in the salt shallows of her sea, and the stones of the goodly tower of Rouen have become ballast for the barges of the Seine.”² Some of Ruskin’s Oxford students discovered this paper in the files of The Art Journal, and reprinted it in 1870 for private circulation: the bibliographical particulars are given below (p. 304).

The next pieces in this volume-dealing with “The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”-introduce us to an interesting episode in Ruskin’s literary career. It has already been briefly referred to in its chronological place (Vol. IX. p. xlvii.), but a fuller account of it is here necessary, both in order to explain the circumstances in which these pieces were composed, and to correct erroneous ideas which are sometimes circulated on the subject. It was supposed at the time, and has often been repeated since, that Ruskin was the inspirer of the Pre-Raphaelites.³ On the other hand, by reaction from this view, it is sometimes asserted that Ruskin had nothing to do with the movement. The truth lies between the two statements; Ruskin himself, in a preface to a collection of his notes on pictures by Millais, explains that “the painters were entirely original in their thoughts, and independent in their practice;” but, on the other hand, one at least of them owed something to Ruskin’s books, and they were all much indebted to his encouragement and advocacy.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in 1848, its members being Dante Rossetti, Millais, Holman Hunt, William Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, F. G. Stephens, and James Collinson. Other artists who, though not members of the Brotherhood, were working on the same lines, were Arthur Hughes, Frederic Sandys, Noel Paton,

¹ See Vol. VIII. p. 20.

² See below, p. 315. The same aspect of Prout’s work is emphasised in the pamphlet on Pre-Raphaelitism, § 26, below, p. 362.

³ As, e.g., by Max Nordau in his Degeneration, 1895, p. 77. Millais, on being shown this passage, characteristically remarked upon it as “twaddling rubbish on a subject of which he knows absolutely nothing” (Life of Millais, i. 62).

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