...experience of the past the knowledge we may obtain by a return to Nature for fresh inspiration. To attempt to build up theories of art, or to form a...style independently of the past, would be an act of supreme folly. It would be at once to reject the accumulated experience of thousands of years. On the...

...experience of the past the knowledge we may obtain by a return to Nature for fresh inspiration. " To attempt to build up theories of art, or to form a style, independently of the past," he says. " would be an act of supreme lolly. It would be at once to reject the experiences and accumulated...

...original in his conceptions, one of the most successful of all that have lived, Owen Jones, says, " To attempt to build up theories of art, or to form a...style independently of the past, would be an act of supreme folly. It would be at once to reject the experiences and accumulated knowledge of thousands...

...against an unthinking mimesis of past forms, advocating instead a critical, histuricist awareness: 'To attempt to build up theories of art, or to form a style, independently of the past, would he an act of supreme folly' (2). Such a sentiment characterizes Pre-Raphaelite writing, ranging from...

...Ornamental Art'. He also acknowledged the importance of the past and traditional practices when he wrote: To attempt to build up theories of art, or to form a...style, independently of the past, would be an act of supreme folly. It would be at once to reject the experiences and accumulated knowledge of thousands...