Whistler v. Ruskin: The Trial Over a Pot of Paint

In 1877, the most powerful art critic in Britain published a review calling the painter James McNeill Whistler a fraud. Whistler sued him for libel. What followed was a two-day trial in which paintings were held upside down, a jury of twelve people was asked to determine the future of art criticism, and the whole thing ended with a verdict of one farthing in damages.Ruskin and Whistler never met. Not before the trial, not during it, and not after. Two men who had never been in the same room managed to derail each other's careers entirely from a distance, over a painting of fireworks in the dark.This episode is about what the farthing actually cost both of them, and why the thing that ruined Whistler financially turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to his art.Suggested Further ReadingLinda Merrill, A Pot of Paint: Aesthetics on Trial in Whistler v. Ruskin (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992)James McNeill Whistler, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890, repr. Dover Publications, 1967)Daniel E. Sutherland, Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake (Yale University Press, 2014).Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/versopod⁠Follow Me on TikTok: ⁠https://tiktok.com/@versopod⁠Email me: [email protected]