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PUC MG/2003
Inglês > Adjectives > Agreement
One of the most important art critics in Victorian England was John Ruskin (1819-1900). His views on painting, sculpture and architecture were enormously influential and he was the author of several books on art. His opinion of new works of art could be unpredictable.
In 1877, in an exhibition of new paintings in a gallery in London, Ruskin very much disliked a painting entitled The Falling Rocket by James Whistler (1834-1903), an American artist. To Ruskin it seemed just a few splashes of yellow paint on a dark blue background. He was shocked at the high price - * 220 - being asked for the painting. He immediately wrote a newspaper article criticising Whistler for asking so much "just for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face". Whistler was so furious that he decided to take Ruskin to court and demand compensation, accusing him of libel: that is, telling lies in print.
When the case was heard, the judge and jury were not very sympathetic to Whistler - his art seemed too "modern" for their taste. When he declared he had taken two days to paint The Falling Rocket, Ruskin's lawyer asked him how he could justify asking so much money for so little work. Whistler replied, "I do not ask the money for two days' work. I ask it for the twenty years it has taken me to learn how to create such a painting in two days."
Whistler won his case but he received only a very small amount in damages, a purely nominal sum. The judge ordered the legal costs - * 800 - to be divided equally between the two men. Ruskin had many supporters who put up the money to pay his costs so he did not suffer financially, but Whistler had to pay his own costs, which made him bankrupt.
(MORRIS, Susan; STANTON, Alan. "Nelson First Certificate Workbook". London: Nelson English Language Teaching, 1993, p. 66. Adapted.)
The word "which" refers to the fact that Whistler
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