What is John Ruskin Art known for? Ruskin’s art, prose style, and literary techniques were as diverse as his interests. He authored essays and books, poetry and speeches, and travel guides and manuals throughout his life. He was a brilliant author. He also created detailed sketches, architectural structures, paintings of plants, rocks, landscape, birds, and decoration, as well as decoration.
In addition, the ornate manner that characterized his early writings on art eventually gave way to a more straightforward one that allowed him to communicate his views more effectively over time. His writing highlighted the interconnections between nature, art, and social structures.
Who was John Ruskin?
Who was John Ruskin? John Ruskin was a famous thinker and art critic during the Victorian era. Furthermore, he was the most influential character in the world of art. In addition to being a philosopher, art critic, & scholar who lived from 8 February 1819 to 20 January 1901, he published manuals on various topics, including geology, literature, architecture, mythology, ornithology, education, horticulture, political economy, etc.
After being born into a wealthy, upper-middle-class family, Ruskin’s dad, John James Ruskin, acquired wealth in the sherry business and was an enthusiastic admirer of modern watercolors, JMW Turner. He was born into a Christian household. He was raised and educated at his own house. Ruskin’s Christian mother Evangelical introduced him to art and the Bible as a child, influencing his views on nature, the value of art, and how he expressed himself as a writer.
He is famous for his two books as “The Stones of Venice” in 1853 and “The Seven Lamps of Architecture” in 1849. For many centuries, both Britain’s and America’s artworks served as the foundation for determining the worth of paintings.
John Ruskin Art Collections
Margaret Ruskin hasn’t had to work because his father provided him with a private income to live comfortably. However, after graduating from Oxford University, he made successful literature, teaching, and curation. Have a look!
Ruskin and Turner
Ruskin saw Turner as his artistic hero. Turner’s works dominated his art collection, and ‘Modern Painters’ was mainly meant to defend the artist’s aesthetic viewpoint in its first book. In the face of those who criticized Turner’s picture of nature, Ruskin claimed that Turner’s portrayal of personality was true to life.
Ruskin wrote in his semi-autobiography, ‘Prterita,’ that Turner was, in his words, “a brilliant artist.”
“the greatest [artist] of his generation; the greatest in every faculty of the imagination. at the same time the greatest painter and poet of his generation.”
When Turner died and left his estate to John Ruskin, he named him the executor. More than 19,000 of Turner’s drawings and paintings were given to the National Art Gallery through the Turner Bequest. However, as Turner’s pornographic sketches were uncovered, Ruskin became disillusioned with his hero, and he ended up killing him. Ruskin and the Keeper of the National Gallery allegedly set fire to the objectionable images to safeguard Turner’s reputation.
As an art critic, Ruskin was well-known.
Ruskin, himself a skilled artist, advocated for the art of many English painters, whose artworks, he believed, were misinterpreted at the time.
He had no concerns about eliminating time-honored paintings and replacing them with underrepresented artists who were less well-known. Throughout 17 years from1843 to 60, he published five volumes of ‘Modern Painters’ and other writings on aesthetics and architectural theory. With some public art museums and limited printing illustrations, his illustrations were incredibly poetic and brought the art pieces to life for his visitors’ eyes to experience firsthand. When graphic reproduction was restricted, there were few public art museums.
Early Florentine painting by John James Ruskin
A journey to Italy in 1845 had led Ruskin to discover the work of early Florentine painters. John Ruskin wrote an intro to the painters in the second edition of ‘Modern Painters.”
Fra Angelico, an artist from the Early Renaissance, was a special favorite of his. He wrote of his experience at Santa Maria Novella to his father, who had been “very much taken aback” by the ancient Florentine art. He also mentioned imagery and color, which he came upon, admiring Fra Angelico’s art as “as close to paradise as prosthetic hand or mind would ever or could ever go.”
Pre-Raphaelites, by John Ruskin
The image above is by William Holman Hunt and is titled “Rienzi swearing to get Justice for his Brother’s Death.” It was created in 1849. The Capricorn Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the interests of Capricorns.
Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman founded the Royal Academy of Arts. They were keen to see the world around them in a new light with their unique perspective. Supporting the Brotherhood in a booklet in 1851 and writing letters to the Times, Russell helped the Brotherhood gain a foothold in the public eye.
In 1854, Ruskin’s marriage to Effie was notoriously abandoned without culmination and annulled based on a misunderstanding, resulting in public embarrassment for the artist. Ex-wife remarried his ex-husband Millais.
Tintoretto and John Ruskin
While in Italy in 1845, John Ruskin was amazed by V. Tintoretto’s 16th-century work, called “Tintoret.” When he visited the Scuola di San Rocco and saw Tintoretto’s ‘Crucifixion,’ he wrote to his father, saying:
The amount of photographs I’ve received today is enough to make me drown. I’ve never been so completely and thoroughly smashed to the ground in front of any human brain as I did today, in front of Tintoret.”
Eventually, Ruskin got preoccupied with the prospect of purchasing Tintoretto’s works for the Gallery. When he wrote the letter from Venice, he expressed his eagerness to buy several art pieces from Venetian cathedrals. He wrote He was devastated by the rejection of his job opportunity.
Botticelli and John Ruskin
Ruskin didn’t always love Botticelli. It was only after buying “Virgin and Child” from art collector C. Fairfax Murray that Botticelli wrote that he had been afraid to show it to “a human spirit,” but that was the last time he mentioned it in any of his writings.
However, J. Ruskin spent the next two years exploring Botticelli’s Sistine Chapel frescos in Rome in 1872-74. After studying Botticelli’s work, he started to see him as an important figure in Renaissance art, symbolizing the continuation of the Christian and Greek traditions. He also attributed the 19th-century resurgence in enthusiasm in Botticelli’s artwork to himself.
John Ruskin and Baroque Art Style
To put it plainly, John Ruskin was not a fan of the Baroque style. According to another letter, Murillo and Guido Reni were included in this “School of Errors & Vices” personal letters to his dad.
“Desperate rage” was how he described his reaction when the Gallery purchased a few of Reni’s works in 1844, he stated. Although European buyers and collectors highly valued Murillo’s paintings in the late 18th century, Ruskin noted in ‘Modern Painters’ that the artist’s competence – or lack of – was evident.
The Golden Era of the Dutch Republic
Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age fared no better than the rest of the collection. He didn’t care for the dual nature of the content, and he was annoyed by the category of best to a painting by David Teniers the Elder entitled “View of Het Sterckshof near Antwerp” at the Museum.
“Of course, the principles of National Gallery arrangement require that this painting be displayed on the wall, while Tintoret and Gainsborough are hung out of sight. In this instance, I consider myself fortunate in being able to refer you to an example of the lowest stoop and densest level of human stupidity to which any art in which some degree of manual dexterity is required has ever descended to date.”
Claude and J. Ruskin
Ruskin’s admiration for Turner didn’t include Claude, one of Turner’s early inspirations, and he lived in France in the 17th century. Ruskin believed that Claude’s paintings were not true to nature, and he expressed his concerns in his first edition of Modern Painters.
If Claude’s sense of the beauty of form had been developed, he would have been a beautiful gardener, and his foliage is rarely ungraceful. Still, when his painting is evaluated in the light of essential truth, it is revealed to be a jumble of errors from beginning to end.”
Ruskin’s enduring legacy
With the publication of The Age of Reason in 1858, Ruskin developed a broader interest in the cultural situation of his day, and he was able to fund idealistic social projects through his inheritance. Later in life, he had a mental illness.
During the half of the 20th century, John Ruskin’s popularity increased again after a long decline. As a result of his artwork, many of his concepts are still relevant today. His views on ecology, the survival of architectural style and the surrounding structures, the significance of fine arts education, the advantages of learning and drawing are detrimental to their well-being.
During a conference on John Ruskin, art education, and cultural reform, held in 2019, this John Ruskin Artwork was displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
John Ruskin Art Frequently Asked Questions
What is art according to the modern painter John Ruskin?
He believed that good artwork is the reflection of a person’s pleasure within Great creation, rather than in his work.” He said,
“All great art is the expression of man’s delight in God’s work, not in his own”
What was the role of John Ruskin in the Arts & Crafts Movement?
The origin of the Arts & Crafts Movement came into being in the 1860s as a progressive movement against the establishment. Its most prominent supporters were John Ruskin and William Morris, depicted at right. Ruskin claimed that the decorative arts impacted the people who created them, continuing this interaction.
Who painted John Ruskin?
Although most of the backdrop was accomplished by October, John Everett Millais painted at a glacial pace. It was followed by a life-size painting of Ruskin in Millais’s workshop in London in the next year, then Millais came to Brig Turk, Ireland, in June 1854 for around ten days to finish the landscape painting.
Why did Ruskin not consummate his marriage?
Ruskin was hesitant to finalize the marriage for a time, informing his young bride that she was now not prepared for childbearing and that having kids would interfere with their vacation plans. Historians interpreted Ruskin’s repulsion in various ways, including the possibility that she had body odor or was menstruated on the night of their marriage.
Summary of John Ruskin Art
John Ruskin Ruskin was a famous Victorian Art Critic. He was a patron of artists and a social thinker. Throughout John Ruskin Artcareer, he wrote in various literary genres and styles. Ruskin’s work teaches us a lot. He wrote extensively on geology, mythology, and ornithology. He believed nature, the arts, and human civilization were all interwoven.
Ruskin was raised in an affluent wine merchant family and attended Christ Church College in London. He defended JMW Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites’ position on landscape painting. Around 1850, he became a Pre-Raphaelite spokesman. His work grew more political and social. Dr. John Ruskin founded the James Ruskin School of Drawing in 1869. In 1871, he started publishing Fors Clavigera, a monthly “letter to the craftsmen and laborers of Great Britain.” In a long and vibrant essay, he described his ideal society. So he formed the Guild of St. George, which still exists today.
These works have influenced art appraisers in both the UK and the US. By John Ruskin. 1870 utilized paint on buff paper. According to Ruskin, faithfulness to nature is the artist’s essential responsibility in the first edition of Modern Painters.
John Ruskin’s impact on the art world was undeniable. In Tolstoy’s words, “one of the most outstanding personalities not only of our generation but of all eras.” Proust helped translate Ruskin’s books. Gandhi called Ruskin’s “magic spell” a spell in his book “The Advancement of All.” He ordered artwork and other memorabilia for his pearl empire’s jewelry. Their daughters established a library for their father’s Ruskin literature. In addition to English, Ruskin’s work of fine art has been translated into French and Hungarian. John James died on 20 January 1901,
