[264] Among works of illustration produced of late years, "the
publications of the Arundel Society," says Ruskin, "hold the first rank
in purpose and principle, having been from the beginning conducted by
a council of gentlemen in the purest endeavour for public utility,
and absolutely without taint of self-interest, or encumbrance of
operation by personal or national jealousy. Failing often, as could
not but be the case when their task was one of supreme difficulty,
and before unattempted, they have yet on the whole been successful
in producing the most instructive and historically valuable series
of engravings that have ever been put within reach of the public....
I learned more from the Arundel copy than in the chapel itself; for
the daily companionship with the engraving taught me subtleties in
the composition which had escaped me in the multitudinous interest of
visits to the actual fresco" (_Stones of Venice_, Travellers' edition,
ii, 176; and _Ariadne Florentina_, Appendix, p. 246).