The Art world has been interested this week in a
libel case. Mr. Ruskin does not like those formless sketches, looking like pictures seen through darkness or fog, which Mr. Whistler calls 4' Nocturnes," " Symphonies," and the like ; and in a number of the "Fors Clavigera" Mr. Ruskin said so, in his own way. Ile blamed the Grosvenor Gallery for admitting work in " which the ill- educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture." He had seen much of Cockney impudence, -" but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask 200 guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." Of course the witnesses—all artists—were opposed to one another, the Judges facetious, and the jury perplexed ; but in the end, the aggrieved painter obtained his verdict and a farthing damages, the jury apparently thinking the criticism quite true, but still illegal. We have commented on the case elsewhere, but may remark here that Mr. Whistler has succeeded in bringing Mr. Ruskin's opinion—formerly buried in the "Fors Clavigera," -which is not sold by booksellers—before every picture-buyer in London, while his own character as an artist, which is that of a genius eccentric to flightiness, remains unaffected.
Previous page
