from John Ruskin

In 1859, John Ruskin stated outright that English art was vulgar. This vulgarity, he contended, arose from the absence of  "right, and therefore, all softening, or animating motive for their work...chiefly by the loss of belief in the spiritual world...belief in some invisible power- god or goddess, fury or fate, saint or demon."

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"Young painters must remember this great fact....A stout arm, a calm mind, a merry heart, and a bright eye are essential to a great painter. Without all these he can, in a great and immortal way, do nothing....Frequent the company of right-minded and nobly-souled persons; learn all athletic exercises, and all delicate arts...be kind and just to everybody; rise in the morning with the lark, and whistle in the evening with the blackbird; and in time you may be a painter. Not otherwise."