John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era. He was also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He was hugely influential in the last half of the 19th century, up to the First World War.
John Ruskin | |
|---|---|
| John Ruskin in 1863 John Ruskin in 1863 | |
| Born | 8 February 1819 54 Hunter Street, Brunswick Square, London, England |
| Died | 20 January 1900 (aged 80) Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire, England |
| Occupation | Writer, art critic, draughtsman, watercolourist, social thinker, philanthropist |
| Citizenship | English |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, University of Oxford King's College London |
| Period | Victorian era |
| Notable works | Modern Painters 5 vols. (1843–60), The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), The Stones of Venice 3 vols. (1851–53), Unto This Last (1860, 1862), Fors Clavigera (1871–84), Praeterita 3 vols. (1885–89). |
| Spouse | Effie Gray (1828–1897) (marriage annulled) |
| Signature | File:John Ruskin signature 1880.svg |
Ruskin wrote on a wide range of subjects. These included geology, architecture, myths, ornithology, literature, education, botany, and political economy. In all his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, and architectural structures and ornamentation.
Ruskin first came to widespread attention with the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), an extended essay in defence of the work of J. M. W. Turner. He argued that the principal role of the artist is "truth to nature". From the 1850s he championed the Pre-Raphaelites who were influenced by his ideas.
In 1869, Ruskin became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, where he established the Ruskin School of Drawing. He founded the Guild of St George, an organisation that still exists.
John Ruskin Media
- JJ Ruskin grave.jpg
The grave of John James Ruskin, father of John Ruskin, in the churchyard of St John the Evangelist, Shirley, Croydon
- John Ruskin by James Northcote.jpg
Ruskin as a young child, painted by James Northcote
10 Rose Terrace, Perth (on the right), where the young John Ruskin spent boyhood holidays with his Scottish relatives
- Portrait of John Ruskin (4671937).jpg
Engraving of Ruskin by Henry Sigismund Uhlrich, c. 1860
- Euphemia ('Effie') Chalmers (née Gray), Lady Millais by Thomas Richmond.jpg
Effie Gray painted by Thomas Richmond. She thought the portrait made her look like "a graceful Doll".
- Millais Ruskin.jpg
John Ruskin painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais standing at Glen Finglas, Scotland, (1853–54).
- Library Walk 29.JPG
"For all books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour, and the books of all time" – Sesame and Lilies
Caricature by Adriano Cecioni published in Vanity Fair in 1872
Rose La Touche, as sketched by Ruskin
John Ruskin, 1882.
