John Ruskin 1819–1900

Ruskin was hugely influential personality in Victorian England. He was an artist, art critic, a teacher, writer, social critic and philosopher. He thought that it was fundamental to make links between all subjects and disciplines for example: Science and Religion; Nature and Art. (Museum, n.d.)

 

 

Ruskin the son of a prosperous Wine shipper. He travelled extensively around Europe in this youth, where he developed a talent for prose and poetry. At a young age he studied draughtsmanship and watercolour with Anthony Van Dyck Copley Fielding (1787-1855) and James Duffield Harding (1798-1863).

 

In 1843 Ruskin published Modern Painters, defending J.M.W Turner against attacks on the latter’s work.

 

In 1851 Ruskin helped the Pre-Raphaelites cause by writing two letters to the Times. In the same year authoring the pamphlet Pre-Raphaelitism.

 

Ruskin’s opinions about art were published in the annual Academy Notes (1855-1859)

Fragment of the Alps 1854-1856

Watercolour and opaque watercolour over pencil on paper

33.5 × 49.3 cm (13.2 × 19.4 in)

Havart Art Museum Cambridge, MA

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded the in London, 1848 By William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), John Everett Millais (1892-96) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82).

The Pre-Raphaelite brothers were young English artists who wanted to change the art world by abandoning the style of Italian Renaissance artist Raphael and go back to the use of bright colours and the use of nature with a medieval culture.

William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), James Collinson (1825-81), Frederic George Stephens (1828-1907) and Thomas Woolner (1825-92) later joined the Brotherhood.

Ford Madox Brown (1821-93) (a friend of D G Rossetti) was not a member of the Pre-Raphaelites but worked closely with them.

Other artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement were:

Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98)

John Waterhouse (1849-1917)

Charles Collins (1828-73)

Arthur Hughes (1832-1915)

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

William Morris (1834-96)

Fredrick   Sandys (1829-1904)

Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)

William Bell Scott (1811-90)

Walter Howard Deverell (1827-54)

Henry Wallis (1830-19-16)

Work by Ford Madox Brown

Work by Ford Madox Brown1852-1865

Oil on canvas 137 x197 cm

The Work was commissioned for Thomas Plint, a very pious and evangelical collector who supported the ideas of the work ethic as a reflection of Christian virtue. There are several references to contemporary life, the Irish ‘navvies’ working on the road the figures of Thomas Carlyle and John Frederick Denison Maurice overseeing the pavement.