John Ruskin was a well-known British art critic of the Victorian era, as well as art patron, theorist, writer, painter and draughtsman. The subjects of his writings included geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy. Moreover, it was John, who shaped the esthetic values and tastes of Victorian England.
Background
John Ruskin was born on February 8, 1819, in London, United Kingdom. His parents were of Scottish descent and were first cousins. John's father, John James Ruskin, was a well-to-do wine merchant with a fondness for art. His mother, Margaret Cock, was a stern and devout woman. Both parents lavished attention and supervision on their only child.
Education
In his childhood, John was encouraged in reading and received some instruction in art. Initially, he was educated at home by his parents and private tutors. From 1834 to 1835, Ruskin attended the school in Peckham, run by the progressive Evangelical, Thomas Dale.
In 1837, Ruskin entered Christ Church college in Oxford, but his studies were interrupted by ill health and consequent travel abroad, so that he did not receive his degree until 1842. Also, at the college, John was awarded with an uncommon honorary double fourth-class degree in recognition of his achievements.
Ruskin had early begun to write both poetry and prose, and by the time he left Christ Church college in Oxford, he had already published articles on architecture and on other subjects. After leaving Oxford, he undertook his first major work, entitled "Modern Painters". It testified to his love of nature, especially of Alpine scenery and to his reverence for J.M.W. Turner as the supreme modern interpreter of "truth" in landscape.
The first volume of "Modern Painters", published anonymously in 1843, was a success with the discerning public, but it was attacked by professionals, who spotted the author's tendency to dogmatize on an insufficient foundation of experience and technical study. Ruskin then set about to remedy his deficiencies through a firsthand study of the Italian painters, particularly those of the Florentine and Venetian schools. Ruskin's Italian tour of 1845 culminated in his discovery of Tintoretto, who, together with Fra Angelico, displaced Turner to become the heroes of the second volume of "Modern Painters".
Later, the weight of Ruskin's interest had shifted to architecture as the most public of the arts. If, as Ruskin thought, all art expresses the spirit of its maker, architecture then most fully expresses the whole spirit of a people. His religious emphasis was implicit in the title of his next book, "The Seven Lamps of Architecture", which he wrote in 1849, as well as in his emphasis upon "truth of expression" in materials and in structure.
The book "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" and its successor "The Stones of Venice" (1851-1853), a great Protestant prose epic of the decline and fall of the Venetian Republic, became the bibles of the Victorian Gothic revival. Ruskin's style in this period was powerfully evocative and readily expanded into sermonic flourishes, that cloaked many historical inaccuracies. Once again professionals, though fascinated by his works, were moved to demur on many points, where theory had replaced a concrete knowledge of the facts of architectural practice. Perhaps Ruskin's most enduring contribution to the development of modern style was his hostility to classicism. He himself was too devoted to ornament and too hostile both to the machine and to standardized construction ever to figure as a grandfather of functionalism. However, his celebrated chapter on the nature of Gothic in "The Stones of Venice" can be taken as the main testament of Victorian esthetic values.
Later in life, John had interrupted the composition of "Modern Painters" for his architectural studies. He returned to the earlier work, completing it with volumes 3 and 4 in 1856 and volume 5 in 1860. At that time, Ruskin also lectured on art and defended the Pre-Raphaelites, but his concerns were inevitably drifting further toward social criticism as a way of transforming society. In reality, he had dropped the integument of art from his sermons, and following the lead of Thomas Carlyle, he began to inveigh directly against the values of the political economists.
The year 1860 marks the official turning point in his interests, for Ruskin published a series of social essays in the Cornhill Magazine, that he later collected as "Unto This Last". Ruskin's attack on the dehumanized ethic of modern industrial capitalism drew a bitter response from readers, but it influenced the thinking of many reformers in the developing Labour movement.
Another series of articles on economic subjects, published in Fraser's Magazine (1862-1863) and collected as "Munera pulveris" (1872), drew a similar outcry from the public. By that time, Ruskin had begun to lecture frequently, and he later published two collections, derived from his lectures, "Sesame and Lilies" (1865) and "The Crown of Wild Olive" (1866). Both volumes circulated widely and brought him a popular following.
In 1869, John was appointed the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University, a post he held with some interruption until 1885. Also, in 1871, John established his Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art there in Oxford. The same year, he began to publish "Fors Cavigera", a periodical, that lasted until 1884. Moreover, in the 1870's Ruskin established Guild of St George.
In 1878, Ruskin suffered his first clear attack of mental illness. Seizures recurred until 1888, when he fell victim to a severe mental breakdown, which confined him to his house at Brantwood in the Lake District until his death. In lucid intervals between 1885 and 1889, John worked on his unfinished autobiography, "Praeterita", one of the most moving and revealing of his works.
The Chateau of Neuchatel at dusk, with Jura mountains beyond
Falls of Schaffhausen
Mount Pilatus
Ancient Maison Lucerne
Moonlight Chamonix
Rocks and Ferns in a Wood at Crossmount
Abbeville Church of St Wulfran
The Garden of San Miniato near Florence
Bay of Uri, Lake of Lucerne
Alpine Peaks Ruskin
Beauvais
A View in the Alps
Zermatt
The Kapellbrücke, Lucerne
The Glacier des Bois
An Italian Village
Christ Church from St Aldate
Afternoon in Spring, with South Wind, at Neuchatel
Fribourg Suisse
Interior of Lucca Cathedral
Towers of Fribourg
Doorhead from Ca Contarini
Matterhorn
Trees and Pond
Amboise
sketch
Velvet Crab
Fast sketch of withered oak
St. George, detail
Tower of the Cathedral at Sens
End of Market Street Croydon
Mary Magdalene after Fra Bartolommeo
Capital 36 of the Ducal Palace
Moss and wild strawberry
Kingfisher
Lady Glenorchy's Chapel
Ferns on a Rock
Caen St Sauveur
The Tomb of Ilaria del Caretto at Lucca
Spiral relief from the north transept door, Rouen Cathedral
Trees Study
Brugg
Arch from the Façade of the Church of San Michele
Cloud Study
Column bases doorway of Badia Fiesolana
Zipporah, after Botticelli
Study of the Marble Inlaying on the Front of the Casa Loredan
Full Face of Cobra
Study of Astronomy and Music
Orange and purple leafspray
Copy of a Girl in Van Dyck's portrait of The Wife of Colyn de Nole and her daughter
Casa Contarini Fasan Venice
Towers
The Casa d'Oro Venice
Under transept gallery
Acanthus
Study of Gneiss Rock Glenfinlass
Tree study
North West Porch St Marks
Dead Pheasant
Study of an Apple
Part of St Mark Venice
Lion's profile from life
Budding Sycamore
Part of the Façade San Michele Lucca
At Naples
A Street in Venice
Part of Santa Maria della Spina Pisa
Study of Foreground Material
Plumage of Partridge
Study of Trees from Turner
Cloud Study over Coniston Water
Head of a Boy from Veronese
Study from Tintoretto's Adoration of the Magi
Oak Spray in Winter
Study of Wild Rose
Eagle's head from life
Copy of the Head of St Ursula from Carpaccio
North West Angle of the façade St Mark
St. George and the Dragon
Acanthus
Itri
Study of a Peacock's Breast Feather
Religion
In 1858, after an "unconversion" experience in Turin, Ruskin decisively abandoned the evangelical Protestantism, which shaped his ideas and attitudes in his early years.
Politics
John Ruskin was a committed social reformer and believed in the dignity of labour and the importance of craftsmanship — views, which resonated in particular with William Morris and the English Arts and Crafts movement.
Ruskin was an inspiration for many Christian socialists, and his ideas informed the work of economists, such as William Smart and J. A. Hobson, and the positivist, Frederic Harrison. Also, he helped to inspire the settlement movement in Britain and the United States.
Views
John believed, that most Baroque art — such as the work of the Bolognese School and the wild Byronesque landscape paintings of Salvator Rosa — was insincere and therefore bad.
In his writings on art, Ruskin argued, that the artist's main role is "truth to nature". In all of his books and articles, he stressed the connections between nature, art and society. He believed passionately, that the task of an artist was to observe nature and express it — free of any rules of composition — rather than invent it in his studio.
Ruskin regularly emphasized his opposition to artists, who favoured "pictorial convention" at the expense of "truth to nature". Thus, he admired the Pre-Raphaelite commitment to "naturalism", and praised Gothic architectural design for its reverence for "natural forms".
John Ruskin also argued, that nature and God are one and the same; that truth, beauty and religion are inextricably linked; that "beauty is a gift of God". He believed, for instance, that Venetian art had deteriorated, because artists were losing their faith in Christ and worshipping transient things, like sensuality and money.
Quotations:
"Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back."
"What we think or what we know or what we believe is in the end of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do."
"There is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of cathedrals."
"When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package."
"A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money."
"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."
"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."
"Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort."
"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty."
Membership
John was an honorary member of the Royal Society of Painters and Arundel Society.
Personality
John Ruskin was a sensitive and passionate lover, fine companion with a good sense of humor.
Physical Characteristics:
Ruskin was slim, perhaps a little short, with an aquiline nose and brilliant, piercing blue eyes. Often wearing a double-breasted waistcoat, a high collar and, when necessary, a frock coat, he also wore his trademark blue neckcloth. From 1878, he cultivated an increasingly long beard and took on the appearance of an "Old Testament" prophet.
Connections
In 1848, Ruskin married Euphemia Chalmers Gray, a painter. Parents of the bridal couple were old friends, and the match was arranged without any bond of deep affection on either side. Ruskin and his bride honeymooned in Normandy, where he studied the Gothic cathedrals. Unfortunately the marriage was annulled in 1854. Euphemia Ruskin had by then fallen in love with the painter John Everett Millais, whom she subsequently married.
In his later years, John was tormented by frustrated love for Rose LaTouche, a girl 30 years his junior, whom he had first met, when she was a child.
Father:
John James Ruskin
Mother:
Margaret Cock
ex-wife:
Euphemia Chalmers Gray
References
John Ruskin: Artist and Observer
Accompanying a landmark exhibition at the National Galleries of Canada and Scotland in 2014, this exploration of Ruskin's watercolors and drawings, representing his entire career and all subject types and degrees of finish and elaboration, demonstrated how his characteristic drawing style evolved and how he achieved his highly distinctive technical virtuosity.
2014
A John Ruskin Collection
Author Jim Dearden’s vast knowledge of Ruskin and exceptional capacity for recollection deftly and sensitively illuminate his subjects, moving through both their emotional, intellectual and artistic lives and their everyday domestic routines in this collection of his writings on John Ruskin.
2018
John Ruskin: The Early Years
This is the authoritative biography of John Ruskin, the most influential nineteenth-century critic of art and society. It draws on the complete text of Ruskin's diaries and many thousands of unpublished letters and other documents to provide fresh insight into the background and content of Ruskin's numerous books.