74 NATURAL HISTORY 



gives us most delight; it is the truthfulness of 

 nature which they present a truthfulness becoming 

 more apparent as they are longer studied. We do 

 not expect in his productions the serrate mountains 

 of granite, where nature has covered the hills with 

 the smooth belts of slate and softer stone. 



"We may not be able to point out every fault in a 

 work of art from our defective education we may 

 even praise such works when faulty ; but it is a law 

 as established as the courses of the stars, that works 

 of art live only as they have the beauty and truth 

 which accurate study of natural objects can alone 

 give them. 



This is the ground of Ruskin's criticism of the 

 famous statue of Laocoon. We may remember 

 that all the circumstances were out of the ordinary 

 course, and thus be carried along by the power of 

 the poet and the skill of the sculptor; but in 

 ordinary pieces, snakes must not feed like wolves, 

 but, true to their nature, only crush by their tight- 

 ening folds. 



The need of accurate study of nature is proved by 

 the practice of the best masters. The painter and 



