John Ruskin. Reskin or mediator

Born 8 February 1819 in London. Ruskin's parents were D. J. Ruskin, one of the co-owners of a sherry importing company, and Margaret Cock, who was her husband's cousin. John grew up in an atmosphere of evangelical piety. However, his father loved art, and when the boy was 13 years old, the family traveled a lot in France, Belgium, Germany and especially Switzerland. Ruskin studied drawing with English artists Copley Fielding and J.D. Harding and became a skilled draftsman. He depicted mainly architectural objects, especially admiring Gothic architecture.

In 1836 Ruskin entered Christ Church College, Oxford University, where he studied geology under W. Buckland. At the age of 21, his father gave him a generous allowance, and they both began collecting paintings by J. Turner (1775–1851). In 1839 Ruskin was awarded the Newdigate Prize for the best poem in English, but in the spring of 1840 he further training Oxford was interrupted due to illness; he started bleeding, which doctors saw as symptoms of tuberculosis.

In 1841, Ruskin began to supplement the essay he wrote at the age of seventeen in defense of Turner's painting. The result was a five-volume work Contemporary artists(Modern Painters), the first volume of which appeared in 1843.

In the spring of 1845 he undertook a journey through Switzerland to Lucca, Pisa, Florence and Venice, for the first time setting off without his parents, accompanied by a footman and an old guide from Chamonix. Left to his own devices, he was almost freed from Protestant prejudices and experienced boundless delight in religious painting from Fra Angelico to J. Tintoretto. He expressed his admiration in the second volume of Modern Artists (1846).

Focusing on Gothic architecture, Ruskin published The Seven Lamps of Architecture in 1849. The moral rigorism characteristic of Ruskin corresponded to the spirit of Victorian England; his ideas about “architectural honesty” and the origin of ornamentation from natural forms remained influential for more than one generation.

Ruskin then turned to the study of Venetian architecture. Together with his wife, he spent two winters in Venice, collecting material for the book Stones of Venice, in which he intended to give a more specific justification for the ideas expressed in the Seven Lamps, especially their moral and political aspects. The book appeared at the height of the “Battle of Styles” raging in London; since the happiness of the working man was proclaimed in the book as one of the components of Gothic beauty, it became part of the program of the supporters of the Gothic revival, led by W. Morris.

Returning to England, Ruskin came out in defense of the Pre-Raphaelites, whose exhibition at the Academy in 1851 was received with hostility. Ruskin became friends with D. E. Millais, the youngest and brightest of the Pre-Raphaelites. Soon Millais and Ruskin's wife Effie fell in love with each other, and in July 1854, having achieved a divorce from Ruskin, Effie married Millais.

For some time Ruskin taught drawing at the Workers' College in London, and fell under the influence of T. Carlyle. Yielding to his father's insistence, Ruskin continued to work on the third and fourth volumes of Modern Painters. In 1857 he gave a course of lectures in Manchester on The Political Economy of Art, later published under the title A Joy for Ever. From the sphere of art criticism, his interests largely moved to the field of social transformation. Further development This topic was given in the book To the Last as to the First (Unto This Last, 1860), which marks the maturity of Ruskin’s political and economic views. He advocated reforms in education, especially in the field of crafts, for universal employment and assistance to the elderly and disabled. In the book to the last, what was expressed to the first spiritual crisis Reskina. Since 1860 he constantly suffered from nervous depression. In 1869 he was elected the first honorary professor of art at Oxford University. At Oxford he worked a lot, preparing a collection of works of art in originals and reproductions for students. In 1871, Ruskin began publishing a monthly publication, Fors Clavigera, addressed to workers in Great Britain. In it he announced the establishment of the Company of St. George, whose task was to create workshops on infertile lands where only manual labor would be used, as well as to introduce workers from places like Sheffield to the beauty of handicraft production and gradually reverse the disastrous consequences of the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.

By the end of 1873 state of mind Ruskin's behavior began to affect his lectures. In 1878 he was knocked down by a severe and prolonged mental illness. However, his memory did not fail him, and his last book, the autobiography The Past (Praeterita, 1885–1889), became perhaps his most interesting work. Ruskin died in Bruntwood (North Lancashire) on January 20, 1900.

John Ruskin (also Ruskin, John Ruskin, February 8, 1819, London - January 20, 1900, Brentwood) - English writer, artist, art theorist, literary critic and poet; Member of the Arundel Society. Had a great influence on the development of art criticism and aesthetics of the second half of the 19th century- beginning of the 20th century.

John Ruskin was born on February 8, 1819, the son of a wealthy Scottish sherry merchant, D. J. Ruskin. Grandfather, John Thomas Ruskin, was a merchant who traded in calico. An atmosphere of religious piety reigned in the family, which had a significant influence on the writer’s subsequent views. Even in his youth, he traveled a lot, and his travel diaries always included notes about geological formations in the landscape of the countries visited.

He entered Oxford University, and subsequently taught a course in art history there. Having become a lecturer, he insisted on the need for future landscape painters to study geology and biology, as well as the introduction of the practice of scientific drawing: “On fine days I devote a little time to the painstaking study of nature; When the weather is bad, I take a leaf or plant as a basis and draw it. This inevitably leads me to find out their botanical names.”

Among his works, the most famous are “Lectures on Art” Fiction: the beautiful and the ugly”, “English Art”, “Modern Artists”, as well as “The Nature of the Gothic”, the famous chapter from “The Stones of Venice”, later published by William Morris as a separate book.

In total, Ruskin wrote fifty books, seven hundred articles and lectures.

Books (5)

Selected Thoughts of John Ruskin

John Ruskin - English art critic XIX century, popularizer of the Pre-Raphaelites and William Turner, public figure. Leo Tolstoy and Marcel Proust turned to Ruskin's works in their works, finding in his thoughts a philosophy close to them.

"Selected Thoughts" by John Ruskin is a collection of his sayings on the most various topics. The reader will find here reflections on goodness, morality, God, art, work, wealth, education. They come down to simple, but indestructible truths for the thinker. After all, as Ruskin himself wrote, “all literature, all art, all sciences are useless and even harmful if they do not help you to be happy, and truly happy.”

Lectures on art

In lectures given to Oxford students, the author offers his own classification art schools and analyzes the contemporary state of art.

The book “Lectures on Art” is absolutely necessary for art historians and students of the humanities.

Beauty theory

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was an outstanding art critic of the 19th century, an intellectual by vocation, and a public figure who dealt with issues of social injustice.

The book “The Theory of Beauty” is a monologue addressed to the reader, in which the famous art critic discusses the relationship between art and morality, art and religion, art and nature. In the book, Ruskin not only expresses an opinion, but also substantiates it, sometimes categorically and passionately. As he himself wrote: “Speaking and acting truthfully constantly and invariably is almost as difficult, perhaps, as acting despite threats and punishments.”

Formations in the landscape of the countries visited.

Among his works, the most famous are Lectures of Art, Fiction: Fair and Foul, The Art of England, “Modern Painters” (English: Modern Painters, -), as well as “The Nature of Gothic” (English: The Nature of Gothic), the famous chapter from “The Stones of Venice”, later published by William Morris as a separate book. In total, Ruskin wrote fifty books, seven hundred articles and lectures.

Ruskin - art theorist

Ruskin did a lot to strengthen the position of the Pre-Raphaelites, for example, in the article “Pre-Raphaelitism”, and also greatly influenced the anti-bourgeois pathos of the movement. In addition, he “discovered” for his contemporaries William Turner, painter and graphic artist, master landscape painting. In his book Modern Artists, Ruskin defends Turner from the attacks of critics and calls him “a great artist, whose talent I was able to appreciate during my lifetime.”

Ruskin also proclaimed the principle of “fidelity to Nature”: “Is it not because we love our creations more than His, that we value colored glass rather than bright clouds... And, making fonts and erecting columns in honor of Him... we imagine that We will be forgiven for our shameful neglect of the hills and streams with which He has endowed our abode - the earth." As an ideal, he put forward medieval art, such masters of the Early Renaissance as Perugino, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini.

The rejection of mechanization and standardization was reflected in Ruskin's theory of architecture, an emphasis on the significance of the medieval Gothic style. Ruskin praised the Gothic style for its attachment to nature and natural forms, as well as for the desire to make the worker happy, which he, like the Gothic Revivalists led by William Morris, saw in the Gothic aesthetic. The nineteenth century tries to reproduce some Gothic forms (pointed arches, etc.), which is not enough to express true Gothic feeling, faith and organicism. The Gothic style embodies the same moral values that Ruskin sees in art - the values of strength, firmness and inspiration.

Classical architecture as opposed to gothic architecture expresses moral vacuity, regressive standardization. Ruskin associates classical values with modern development, in particular with the demoralizing effects of the Industrial Revolution, reflected in such architectural phenomena as the Crystal Palace. Many of Ruskin’s works are devoted to architectural issues, but he most expressively reflected his ideas in the essay “The Nature of Gothic” from the second volume of “The Stones of Venice” ( The Stones of Venice) 1853, published at the height of the “Battle of Styles” raging in London. Besides the apology gothic style, he criticized the division of labor and the unregulated market advocated by the English school of political economics.

Views on society

While teaching drawing at the Workers' College in London, John Ruskin came under the influence of Thomas Carlyle. At this time, he began to be more interested in the ideas of transforming society as a whole, and not just in the theory of art. In the book “To the Last as to the First” (Unto This Last, 1860), which marked the formalization of Ruskin’s political and economic views, he criticizes capitalism from the standpoint of Christian socialism, demanding reforms in education, universal employment and social assistance disabled and elderly people. In 1908, this work of Ruskin was translated into Gujarati by the Indian politician Mohandas Gandhi called Sarvodaya.

In 1869 he was elected the first honorary professor of art at Oxford University, for whose students he collected a collection of works of art in originals and reproductions. Ruskin also gained great popularity among artisans and the working class - especially in light of the founding of the monthly publication Fors Clavigera (Letters to the Workers and Toilers of Great Britain) published from 1871 to 1886. Together with William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites, he sought to reveal to the workers of industrial areas the beauty of craft production and overcome the dehumanizing effects of mechanized labor with the help of art-industrial workshops, where only creative manual labor would be used. Ruskin himself headed the first such workshop, called the Guild of St. George.

Personal crisis

In 1848 Ruskin married Effie Gray. The marriage was unsuccessful, the couple separated and received a divorce in 1854, and in 1855 Effie married an artist

I've been wanting to tell you for a long time interesting story oh...about a love triangle...Well, about a very strange triangle)

D. E. Milles. Portrait of Effie Gray

There was such a famous figure victorian era John Ruskin (eng. John Ruskin; 1819 - 1900) - English writer, artist, art theorist, literary critic and poet, who had a great influence on the development of art criticism and aesthetics in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

Ethymia (Effie) Gray was born on May 7, 1828 in Perth in the house that her father bought from his father John Ruskin. The seven of them maintained a good relationship, so Ruskin could watch Effie grow up and blossom. There was a 9 year difference between them.
There was also mutual sympathy. For Effie John Ruskin wrote fantasy novel"King of the Golden River" The connection between them was encouraged by Effia’s father, and the girl seemed suitable to Ruskin’s parents future wife for son.

J. E. Milles. Portrait of Effie Gray

John Ruskin courted Euthymia Gray for two years. The matter ended with a wedding. She was nineteen, he was twenty-nine. On the marriage bed, John carefully pulled the dress off the shoulders of his beautiful wife and discovered, to his horror and shock, pubic hair.
John was outraged, deciding that his beloved’s body “was not created for the enjoyment of passion.” He hugged his wife, turned on the other side and fell asleep. Effie felt rejected.
The wedding night was followed by a six-year period of chastity, during which John skillfully invented more and more new reasons for his refusal to fulfill his marital duty. For example, he said that he hated children and did not want the additional burden of a pregnant or nursing Effie. The shock of Effie's body was Ruskin's first evidence that he was completely unsuited for carnal relationships. His strange childhood, deprived of toys and communication with peers, prevented him from preparing for reality adult life. The Ruskins developed a certain style of behavior that outwardly suited both of them, although Effie never gave up the dream of having children (after her marriage, Effie’s mother became pregnant with her thirteenth child). Ruskin's wife soon gained a reputation as a charming, intelligent and witty guest. She took care to maintain her chastity, not giving rise to accusations of adultery.
She admired her husband: “I could never love anyone else in this world except John.” But Ruskin finally began to openly admit that their marriage was a mistake. He stated that he would never fulfill his marital duty, that “it would be sinful to enter into such a relationship, and if children appear, the responsibility is too great, because I am completely unsuited to raise them.”

At that time, John Ruskin, who had already become a man capable of dictating artistic taste to the public, took the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood under his protection. He was especially fond of John Everett Millais, whom he considered the most gifted of them. He introduced Millais to his wife, and he persuaded her to pose for the picture. "Order for Release".

The painting depicts the wife of a Scottish soldier arrested after the Jacobite uprising of 1745. She holds the child in her arms and hands the guard the order to release her husband as he clings to her.
Apparently, Milles began to fall in love with Effie already while working on the picture. And then Ruskin invited young artist to accompany their family on a trip to Scotland.
Then Milles wrote famous portrait Ruskin, who begins to understand that feelings have arisen between his wife and his ward.

The triangle could have remained a triangle, but.....
In 1854, Effie finally made up her mind and told her friend Lady Eastlake, the wife of Sir Charles Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy, about her situation. “Tell your parents,” she advised, “there are articles in the law that will help in your situation.” The Grays and their daughter hired lawyers and invited two doctors to examine Effie. Both declared that she was a virgin (one was literally dumbfounded by this).
London society was up in arms against John, since marriage without sex was considered as unheard of as sex before marriage.
The court eventually annulled the marriage on the grounds that "John Ruskin was incapable of performing his marital duties due to incurable impotence."

J. E. Milles. Self-portrait
A year later, Effie married the artist John Everett Millais. The poor thing had to go through an unusual experience for the second time. wedding night, as Milles burst into tears and admitted that, like John, he knew nothing about women and sex. Effie consoled and encouraged him. And two months later she was pregnant with the first of her eight children.

Milles subsequently became the highest paid artist in history English art. In 1885 he received the title of baron, and a month before his death he became president of the Royal Academy.

J. E. Milles. Portrait of Effie Gray Millais

Sophie Gray 1857
This painting shows younger sister Effie-Sophia, who was 12 years old at the time of painting..

Millais died in 1896 and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral. A great honor for the artist who once shocked audiences with his early works.
Effie briefly outlived her husband and died in 1897. She was buried in the churchyard in Kinwall.
By the way, it was this cemetery that Milles once depicted in his painting "Rest Valley"

After his divorce from Effie, Ruskin returned to his parents. He remained chaste, but fell in love with little girls “at the first glimmer of their dawn,” losing interest in them as soon as they entered puberty.

However, with the nymphet Rosa Latush everything turned out differently. John set out to marry her, despite the several decades difference.

Rose's mother became concerned, turned to Effie, and she revealed to her all the intimate details of her life with John - or rather, the complete absence of them. Rose's parents refused Ruskin.
Three years later, Rosa died of unknown causes. The story of this love is mentioned more than once in Nabokov’s “Lolita”; the film “The Passion of John Ruskin” was made about it.
In the 1870s, Ruskin's attacks of mental illness became more frequent due to this; in 1885 he retired to his estate, which he did not leave until his death.
John died a virgin.

The greatest theorist and historian of art, English philosopher and cultural critic of the 19th century, John Ruskin (1819-1900) - a passionate preacher artistic creativity"in the name of benefit, goodness and justice" and at the same time subtle esthete, scholar of antiquity and the Renaissance, Turner discoverer and Pre-Raphaelite theorist.

Born on February 8, 1819, in the family of a wealthy Scottish sherry merchant, D. J. Ruskin. An atmosphere of religious piety reigned in the family, which had a significant influence on the writer’s subsequent views.

John Ruskin - theorist and art historian

John Ruskin had a great influence on the development of art criticism, aesthetics, Western philosophy and the ideology of wildlife conservation. He was elected the first honorary professor of art at Oxford University. He taught at Oxford and Cambridge. He has written fifty books, seven hundred articles and lectures.

In Russia, the main works of J. Ruskin, translated into Russian, were published in turn of XIX-XX centuries. However, in the early 1920s, by a circular from the Deputy People's Commissar of Education N. Krupskaya, J. Ruskin's books, among some others, were prohibited from being issued in libraries. During Soviet power has not been translated or published.

On Eschatos there is an opportunity to read Ruskin’s books - both pre-revolutionary editions and editions in modern spelling.

John Ruskin MODERN ARTISTS

General principles and truth in art

Translation from the second English edition

P.S. Kogan

Printing House Partnership A.I. Mamontova