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John Ruskin is 200 years old this year – surely a good time to look back on his life and accomplishments? But where does one start, to give a flavour of his crowded life? (Or, with more difficulty, where does one stop!)
He was born, in February 1819, into a prosperous family. He showed precocious intelligence, and a talent for writing, at a prodigiously early age. He became as fascinated, whilst growing up, by the science of geology as by poetry and Classics, and harboured an ambition to become the President of the Geological Society. From a young age, he was able to travel to Europe with his family – by the 1830s this was again possible, following the end of the Napoleonic wars. Crossing the Alps (“a magic revelation”) he visited Venice, for the first of many times, in 1835.
He was influenced by seeing illustrations by the painter JMW Turner in a book-length poem, which inspired a life-long passion for the works of England’s most famous artist. When Turner’s work started to be criticised, in 1836, Ruskin brilliantly defended and championed him, in what grew into the 5-volume work, Modern Painters, which established him as an influential (and opinionated!) art critic.
With his celebrity thus secured, Ruskin continued to write on many things: on art and architecture (in particular, the architecture of Venice … with a strongly-argued preference for the Gothic style), on nature and craftsmanship, on literature and religion, on political economy and social justice … a dizzying variety of subjects.
He was an accomplished (self-taught) artist and draughtsman, and teacher/lecturer, becoming the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University. He advocated seeing clearly, a necessary skill for drawing, as a means to a better understanding, and love, of nature.
So we come to 1871, when he began a bi-monthly series of public letters (“Fors Clavigera”) addressed to “… the workmen and labourers of Great Britain”. This series of ninety-six essays, or ‘think pieces’, about the issues that bothered Ruskin and his world, were very personal and often quirkily written, and set out the principles underlying his ideal society. We would nowadays recognise a newsletter such as this, updated every few weeks, as a blog.
He later founded the Guild of St George – a Sheffield-based organisation, visionary at the time, which is still active today – to help make the world a better place to live in, by promoting improved systems of education and agricultural management. Even 200 years after his birth, some of his campaigns (such as for a minimum wage) are still regarded as part of the way a responsible society should function. His writings and views influenced Tolstoy and Gandhi and, among so many others, the founders of the National Trust.
He was an early anti-industrialist and environmentalist – some say that he foresaw “climate change”, as a consequence of Victorian industrialisation – and a passionate advocate of a sustainable relationship between people, craft and nature: all issues which remain as pertinent today as they were in his own lifetime. As we would now put it: “he saw (and educated others to see) the inter-connectedness of everything”.
In 1872 he escaped the clamour of fame in London, moving to the peace of the Lake District (an area he had loved since childhood) – to live out the rest of his days in a house overlooking Coniston: Brantwood. This is now a successful and vibrant museum, run by a private Trust, which is celebrating its famous owner’s bi-centenary year by mounting a series of special exhibitions. The present show (running till 4th August), aptly titled “Incandescence: Turner in Venice”, displays several works by JMW Turner, from the Tate collection. The centrepiece is the magnificent “Venice: the Piazzetta with the Ceremony of the Doge Marrying the Sea” – which glows! – together with a suite of watercolours from Turner’s visit in 1840, the year in which he and Ruskin first met.
Other bicentenary commemorations in Cumbria include “Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud” at Abbot Hall, Kendal: 12 July – 5 October 2019. (The exhibition’s flyer says that it “… examines themes in Ruskin’s work, including the influence of Turner, his fascination with the impact of industrialisation on the environment, and his ongoing struggle with depression.”)
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Thanks to Brantwood for the headline portrait; to all associated with the “John Ruskin: the power of seeing” exhibition at Two Temple Place, London, and its catalogue; and to Suzanne Fagence Cooper, author of “Seeing Clearly: why John Ruskin matters”.
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