This essay interprets "The Decay of Lying" by Oscar Wilde and News from Nowhere by William Morris as contributions to the debate concerning realist art that took place during the late-Victorian period. Specifically, it compares the ways in which these works deployed the strategies of autonomy and reconciliation characteristic of modern aesthetic discourse. For this purpose, the author establishes an interpretive framework by discussing relevant rhetorical devices developed by German classical aesthetics in the late eighteenth century. Thus, he identifies and analyzes the main similarities and differences between Wilde's and Morris' aesthetic stances, and, finally, reassesses the definition of autonomy as "uselessness", frequently employed in the scholarship on British aestheticism. An English translation of this article can be provided by the author upon request.