Why did James McNeill Whistler sue John Ruskin for libel?

James McNeill Whistler sued the art critic John Ruskin for libel following a harsh public critique of his 1875 painting, Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket.

When the painting was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, Ruskin accused the artist of "flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face". This attack targeted the Impressionist manner of the work, which lacked traditional figurative references and prioritized an abstract, autonomous aesthetic over the "lifelike" representation Ruskin’s moral and naturalist theories demanded.123

The resulting 1878 trial highlighted a fundamental conflict between Ruskin’s belief in the moral and social purpose of art and the Aesthetic movement’s view that art should be independent of such constraints. While Whistler successfully defended his artistic philosophy, he was awarded only a token farthing in damages, a result that ultimately led to his bankruptcy.132