ABSTRACT

John Ruskin uses ‘moral’ in both the narrower sense, where it means ‘ethical’, and a broader one, where it means ‘pertaining to mental life’. Ruskin’s account of idealism in religious art shows signs of a shift of emphasis in his criticism towards the mental power and moral courage of the artist. It is one of the many paradoxes of the third volume of Modern Painters that it is shot through with Ruskin’s doubts about the moral usefulness of art, at the same time that it affirms the moral worth of the artist. Ruskin’s analysis leads logically to an exploration of changes in sensibility. Ruskin interprets the darkness of modern landscape as a sign of the ennui and faithlessness of the age: ‘All sincere and modest art is, among us, profane.’ He offers a further explanation for the modern delight in wild scenery.