The Slave Ship

Consider both the section titled "A Definition of Greatness in Art" and the one titled "The Slave Ship" here. How does Ruskin define greatness in art? How does his discussion of "The Slave Ship" relate to this definition? I've reproduced the painting below, so you can see how closely Ruskin considers this painting and how well he expresses what he sees.

Well first you take his definition of art, which is that he feels it is a “great language” and equates art to literature and fine writings. I find this perfectly acceptable because I myself equate fine writing with art. Someone who is considered a great painter has “done just as much towards being that which we ought to respect as a great painter, as a man who was learnt how to express himself grammatically and melodiously has toward being a great poet.” Ruskin’s idea of greatness doesn’t reflect the medium, but the subject and what is contained and expressed in the painting (or writing), “It is not by the mode of representing and saying, but by what is represented and said that the respected greatness… is to be finally determined.” That is to sat artwork that expressed something, a particular and drawing point of view the affects the viewer, “which conveys to the mind of the spectator the greatest number of great ideas”
In Ruskin’s description of “The Slave Ship” he speaks of the violence in the image, the two swells on either side dividing the ocean in two, the fiery and bloody sunset, and the burning clouds. What I found interesting was that there was never any mention of the subject, but the feelings and images expressed by way of colors. He notes there “is not one false or morbid line” which is true in theory. The colors are just so vibrant. Ruskin obviously feels that this image matches up with his opinion of “great art” which it does. He not only sees the actual subject, but the violent story told in colors as well.