Letteratura inglese

VELASQUEZ, THE NOVICE

CHAPTER I“There is a noble city in the sea;The sea is in the broad, the narrow streets,Ebbing and flowing, and the salt seaweedClings to the marble of her palaces.”—ROGERS.

The morning sun shone brightly on the little village of Mestre, and the white walls and flat roofs,which, simple as they are, impress so peculiar a character on the Italian landscape, as one touch ofa master characterises a picture, were relieved against a sky of that brilliant blue which is onlyproduced by the crystal clearness of a southern air, that clearness which is so tantalizing to thewearied traveller, by diminishing one half his apparent distance from the spires of the city of hisdestination.

The influence of Romantic poets and picturesque paintings is quite remarkable. Even if Ruskin drawa lot, he didn’t consider himself as an artist.

Chapter IIUnderneath day’s azure eyes 79Ocean’s nursling, Venice, lies,On the blue and beaming lineOf the waters crystalline.Column

"tower, and dome, and spire
Shine like obelisks of fire,
Pointing with unconstant motion
From the altar of dark ocean
To the sapphire-tinted skies,
Like the flames of sacrifice." - SHELLEY.

And, as if summoned out of the deep at the word, the city of palaces rose into their view, her towers and cupolas running far along the line of the blue sea, which was seen stretching away to the southward into the glow of the distant heaven, while here and there the line of its horizon was broken by an island of sculptured marble, or dotted with the sails of innumerable shipping. The city itself was at the distance of about two miles, but not the slightest haze diminished the clearness with which the eye; the column of St. Mark's rose high and distinguished towards its buildings were defined upon its centre, and the noble domes of the churches of San Giorgione and della Salute glittered in the brightness of the noonday sun, like the chief gems of the diadem which the Adriatic wears so.

1. Section 2: 1836-1844
2. Writes letter defending Turner's Juliet and her Nurse, exhibited at Royal Academy and 1836 in Blackwood's Magazine attacked
3. 1837 Gift of first Turner water colour; enters Christ Church College, Oxford
4. 1838 The Poetry of Architecture: the architecture of the nations of Europe considered in association with natural scenery and national character, published in parts in the Architectural Magazine
5. 1840-41 Italian tour (Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Venice)
6. 1843 Volume I of Modern Painters: their superiority in the art of landscape painting to all the ancient masters proved by examples of the true, the beautiful, and the intellectual from the works of modern artists, especially from those of J.M.W. Turner, by a Graduate of Oxford
7. During the second period of his life, he turned his carrier as a writer.
8. Thank God I am here! It is the Paradise of cities and there is moon enough to make half the sanities of the earth lunatic, striking its pure flashes of

light against the grey water before the window; and I am happier than I have been these five years… the outlines of St Mark's thrill me as if they had been traced by A[dèle's] hand. This and Chamouni are my two bournes of earth… Thank God I am here!

80- 6th May 1841, Diaries

1838 -> first book, a collection of volumes. This work is important because it shows how international but also interested in the local places and characters his research was.

1843 -> the thesis of Ruskin was that modern painters' art (in particular Turner) was superior than the one of the ancient painters.

What a delicious afternoon I spent yesterday in St Marks- trying to get the local colour of the church… . I was doing something… with no picturesque ugliness, but with an object which it is a delight to have one's eyes drawn to. Then, when I left the square, before the sunset—at it, rather--there was a light such as Turner in his maddest

moments never came up to; it turned the masts of theguard frigate into absolute pointed fire, and the woods of the botanic gardens took it in the same waynot as if the light were on them, but in them… and the brick buildings, far over the lagoon, blazing-in pure crimson…one effect, new to me, was a stray ray which caught vertically on a misty, undefinedcloud, and turned it into a perpendicular pillar of crimson haze, like the column that led theIsraeilites.- 12th May 1841, Diaries

He mentions Turner, saying not even him would be able to paint the scene and atmosphere he waslooking at.

Section 3: 1845-60

• 1845 journey abroad without parents (Tuscany, Venice with J.H. Harding) Alps
• 1846 Switzerland Italy; Modern Painters II
• 1848 The Seven Lamps of Architecture
• 1849-50 Venice
• 1851 The Stones of Venice I
• 1851-52 Venice
• 1853 The Stones of Venice II and III; death of Turner; Ruskin later arranges his bequest to thenation of 1000s of sketches

watercolours

 1856 Modern Painters III & IV

 Unto this Last…1860 Modern Painters V;

MODERN PAINTERS vol. II On Imagination, London, George Allen, 1846

Year 1845 is a turning point, the moment in which Ruskin found his own way of painting. That year he travelled for the first time without parents (he was 26), but with a guy who his parent trusted as a guide. The he would come regularly to Venice (also with parents and wife, who divorced after few years). In this third period, Ruskin wrote his most popular books.

April-October 1845

The 1845 journey was conceived to study better the paintings of the old masters and their imagination. He wanted to study how painters’ imagination works. In particular, he wanted to study the early old masters (Cimabue, Giotto, Bellini…). Starting his journey in April, he went through the Alps. The itinerary was: Genova, Sestri, Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia, Firenze, Bologna, Parma, Pavia, Milano, Como. in Val D’Ossola, Macugnaga, Domo

In the summer,

it was very hot so he moved to the mountains: d'Ossola, Airolo, Faido. And then on the end of August he moved to lago di Garda, Baveno, Desenzano, Verona. He did not keep a journal but he wrote letters to his parents everyday, which gave us an account of his journey, with very detailed description of painting. Venice was supposed to be the end of the journey, he wanted to stay no more than a week, because he considered his studies accomplished.

I perceive several singular changes in the way I now view Italy. With much more real interest – I take a far less imaginative or delightful one, I read it as a book to be worked through & enjoyed, but not as a dream to be interpreted. All the romance of it is gone, and nothing that I see ever makes me forget that I am in the 19th century. - Letter to J. J. Ruskin July 1845

He compares Italy to a book he wants to learn. But nothing remembers a nice story to him, everything tells him he is in the 19 century.

Venice, 10th September 1845

Dear

In his first description of Venice, there is no enthusiasm. He is saying that the uniqueness of Venice has disappeared because of globalization and industrialization. The modernity is frightening and shocking for him.

11 September

Dearest Father …. Of all the fearful changes I ever saw wrought in a given time, that on Venice since – I was last here beats. It amounts to destruction all that can be done of picture now is in the way of – restoration. The Foscari palace is all but a total ruin the rents in its walls are half a foot wide. The interior court of the Doges palace, especially the part I drew, is being repaired, covered with scaffolding, & as a preparatory step they have already knocked off the heads of the statues. … The whitewashed inside… Now although the exterior arcade of the Doges palace has been brilliantly82 is now no pleasure in being in Venice, I must stay a week more than I intended, to get a few of the more precious details before they are

lost forever. …Venice is not the ideal place he used to remember but he feels he needs to stay. He is developing a different interest on Venice and a direct involvement in the city. He feels the urge to do something for the city.

Venice, September 13, 1845 …What makes me sadder is, that the divine beauty of the yet uninjured passage about the Salute & Piazzetta has struck me more intensely than ever. I have been standing (but the moment before I–began this letter) on the steps at the door the water is not even plashing in the moonlight, there is not even a star twinkling, it is as still as if Venice were beneath the sea, but beautiful beyond all thought.- Letter to J. J. Ruskin

He discovers a beauty of the city, which is different to the one he remembered, a beauty which reveals something more of the city.

John Ruskin, Palazzo Dario 1846?20 September: I am sorry that you are expecting me to leave Venice so soon & far more sorry that I cannot do so—be assured it

It is misery to me to stop here, but every hour is destructive of what I most value, and I must do what I can to save a little.

He had the idea that Venice he was looking at was going to disappear, so he had to draw it before it happened.

When we entered the grand canal, I was yet more struck, if possible, by the fearful dilapidation it—[Venice] has suffered in these last five years. Not only are two thirds of the palaces under repair—they we know what that means—but they could not stand without it are mouldering down as if they were all leaves & autumn had come suddenly. Few boats about—all deathlike & quiet, save for the scaffolding & plastering. The grand canal began to look a little better as we got to the Rialto, but, as we turned under the arch, behold, all up to the Foscari palace—gas lamps.