User:Constable31/sandbox/Whistler v. Ruskin

James McNeill Whistler (left) and John Ruskin (right)

Whistler v. Ruskin was a libel suit brought by artist James McNeill Whistler against art critic John Ruskin. The lawsuit was centered around Ruskin's criticisms of Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket in a July 1877 letter of Ruskin's Fors Clavigera, with Ruskin accusing Whistler of asking two hundred guineas for "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face". Although the jury sided with Whistler, he was awarded only a farthing in damages. Though Whistler was later forced to declare bankruptcy, the trial's proceedings garnered significant public attention to Whistler's philosophy of Aestheticism, and diminished Ruskin's influence as an art critic.

Ruskin, one of the most prominent art critics in Victorian society at the time, possessed a strong dislike for many of Whistler's works. Ruskin had previously critiqued Whistler's Symphony in Grey: Early Morning, Thames as "absolute rubbish", and thought of Whistler's paintings as ill-conceived, poorly crafted, and overpriced. In the July 1877 letter of Fors Clavigera, Ruskin strongly criticized Whistler's eight paintings exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery on 1 May 1877. Ruskin attacked Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket in particular, and called Whistler a "coxcomb". Whistler, in response, sued Ruskin for libel. Ruskin was ill by the time the case went to trial in November 1878, and was represented by artist Edward Burne-Jones and Attorney General Sir John Holker.

Both Whistler and Ruskin used the two-day trial to promote their own philosophies of art, although Ruskin's absence allowed Whistler's Aestheticism to become the focus of public attention. Artists were subpoenaed by both Whistler and Ruskin to defend their respective opinions on Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket, with Albert Moore appearing as a witness for Whistler, and artist William Powell Frith appearing for Ruskin. After nearly two hours of deliberation, the jury's verdict was that Ruskin's review was libelous, but awarded Whistler only a farthing in damages due to a belief that Whistler had suffered no material losses as a result of Ruskin's critiques.

Whistler was left bankrupt by May 1879 as a result of the expenses from the trial, which forced an auction of his works, collection, and house. Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket would remain unsold until 1892, when Samuel Untermeyer purchased the painting.