Modern Painters I and II are praised by the critic of the Ecclesiastic Review for their original thought, while the silence of the establishment periodicals with regard to these works is interpreted as a reactionary reluctance to consider the challenge to traditional artistic theories embodied by these works (see here). Although receptive to way that Modern Painters I and II bring religion and art into close proximity, the reviewer warns that a tendency to conflate the two is dangerously close to idolatry (see here). Ruskin is defended from charges of inconsistency (see here), while a summary of Modern Painters I includes a reference to the separation of the artist's intellectual and technical powers (see here). In making the transition from the evaluation of Modern Painters I to Modern Painters II, the reviewer quotes the whole of Chapter VI, 'Of Ideas of Beauty' (see here).