Unexpected Beauty

It is only by the habit of representing faithfully all things, that we can truly learn what is beautifull, and what is not. The ugliest objects contain some elements of beauty; and in all it is an element peculiar to themselves, which cannot be separated from their ugliness, but must either be enjoyed together with it or not at all. The more a painter accept nature as he finds it, the more unexpected beauty he discovers in what he at first despised; but once let him arrogate the right of rejection, and he will gradually contract his circle of enjoyment, until what he supposed to be nobleness of selection ends in narrowness of perception. Dwelling perpetually upon one class of ideas, his art becomes at once

monstrous and morbid; until at last he cannot faithfully represent even what he chooses to retain; his discremination contracts into darkness, and his fastidiousness fades into fatuity.

John Ruskin

1819-1900.