Hmm …

… Evildoers and Their Art | Peter Hitchens | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

 Does artistic merit cancel wickedness? Can the art be considered separately from the artist? Surely not. To appreciate the work of Rembrandt, for instance, is to see and to feel something of him, and in my case to feel a strong personal liking across the centuries. Gill was plainly capable of recognizing goodness, and was not its constant enemy, as his Stations of the Cross show. Even today some solitary pilgrim to Westminster Cathedral might be moved by them to pity, mercy, or repentance. Can artistic beauty do so much good that it simply bypasses the moral quality of the artist? Plenty of artists have lived less than saintly lives, to put it mildly. Yet at some point, their works have served the cause of goodness.