In Ruskin’s view human art was at its best when imitating nature, principally because nature as a divine creation itself brought us closer to the ultimate source of all creativity. Indeed, despite his Calvinist roots he insists that nature does not merely point to God but can itself provide experience of the divine nature.14 So, for example, a seascape stretching to infinity is said not just to point to the possibility of a similar infinity in God, it allows us the actual possibility to experience such infinity as one of the divine’s own distinctive attributes. In Ruskin’s own words, ‘light
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