Ruskin was born in
London, and raised in south London, the son of a wine importer who was one of the founders of the company that became
Allied Domecq. He was educated at home, and entered the
University of Oxford without proper qualifications for a degree. Nevertheless he impressed the scholars of
Christ Church after he won the
Newdigate prize for
poetry, his earliest interest. In consequence, and despite a protracted period of serious illness, he was awarded a double-third degree.
His first work, serialised in Loudon's
Architecture Magazine in 1836-7, under the nom-de-plume "Kata Phusin" (Greek for "according to Nature") was
The Poetry of Architecture, a study of cottages, villas, and other dwellings which centred around a Wordsworthian argument that buildings should be sympathetic to their local environments, and should use local materials. Soon afterwards, in 1839, he published, in
Transactions of the Meteorological Society (pages 56-59), his "Remarks on the present state of meteorological science". He went on to publish the first volume of one of his major works,
Modern Painters, in 1843, under the anonymous identity "An Oxford Graduate". This work argued that modern landscape painters — and in particular
J.M.W. Turner — were superior to the so-called "
Old Masters" of the post
Renaissance period. Such a claim was controversial, especially as Turner's semi-abstract late works were being denounced by some critics as meaningless daubs. The degree to which Ruskin reversed an anti-Turnerian tide may have been overemphasised in the past, as Turner was a renowned and major figure in the early Victorian art world and a prominent member of the Royal Academy. Ruskin's criticisms of Old Masters like
Gaspard Dughet (Gaspar Poussin),
Claude Lorrain, and
Salvator Rosa, was much more controversial, given the immense respect in which they were held at the time. The attack on the old masters centred on what Ruskin perceived as their lack of attention to natural truth. Rather than 'going to nature', as Turner did, the old masters, 'composed' or invented their landscapes in their studios. For Ruskin, modern painters like Turner and
James Duffield Harding (Ruskin's art tutor) showed a much more profound understanding of nature, observing the 'truths' of water, air, clouds, stones, and vegetation.
Ruskin considered some Renaissance masters, notably
Titian and
Dürer, to have shown similar devotion to nature, but he attacked even
Michelangelo as a corrupting influence on art. The second half of
Modern Painters I consists of detailed observations by Ruskin of exactly how clouds move, how seas appear at different times of day, or how trees grow, followed by examples of error or truth from various artists.
Ruskin had already met and befriended Turner, and eventually became one of the executors of his will. It is often stated that as an executor, Ruskin took it upon himself in 1858 to destroy a large number of Turner's sketches because of their 'pornographic' subject matter, although this has now been cast into doubt (see below).
Ruskin followed this book with a second volume, developing his ideas about symbolism in art. He then turned to architecture, writing
The Seven Lamps of Architecture and
The Stones of Venice, both of which argued that architecture cannot be separated from morality, and that the "
Decorated Gothic" style was the highest form of architecture yet achieved.
By this time Ruskin was writing in his own name, and had become the most famous cultural theorist of his day. In
1848, he married
Effie Gray, for whom he wrote the early fantasy novel
The King of the Golden River. Their marriage was notoriously unhappy, eventually being
annulled in
1854 on grounds of his "incurable
impotency," a charge Ruskin later disputed. Effie later married the artist
John Everett Millais, who had been Ruskin's protegé.
Ruskin had come into contact with Millais following the controversy over his painting
Christ in the House of his Parents, which was considered blasphemous at the time. Millais, with his colleagues
William Holman Hunt and
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, had established the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. The Pre-Raphaelites were influenced by Ruskin's theories. As a result, the critic wrote letters to
The Times defending their work, later meeting them. Initially he favoured Millais, who travelled to Scotland with Ruskin and Effie to paint Ruskin's portrait. Effie's increasing attachment to Millais created a crisis in the marriage, leading Effie to leave Ruskin, causing a major public scandal. Millais abandoned the Pre-Raphaelite style after his marriage, and his later works were often savagely attacked by Ruskin. Ruskin continued to support Hunt and Rossetti. He also provided independent funds to encourage the art of Rossetti's wife
Elizabeth Siddal. Other artists influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites also received both written and financial support from him, including
John Brett, Burne-Jones and
John William Inchbold. In 1858 he also opened the School of Art in Sidney Street, Cambridge, laying the foundation for what is now
Anglia Ruskin University.
During this period Ruskin wrote regular reviews of the annual exhibitions at the
Royal Academy under the title
Academy Notes. His reviews were so influential and so judgemental that he alienated many artists, leading to much comment. For example
Punch published a comic poem about a victim of the critic containing the lines "I paints and paints, hears no complaints...then savage Ruskin sticks his tusk in and nobody will buy".
Ruskin also sought to encourage the creation of architecture based on his theories. He was friendly with
Sir Henry Acland, who supported his attempts to get the new
Oxford University Museum of Natural History built as a model of modern Gothic. Ruskin also inspired other architects to adapt the Gothic style for modern culture. These buildings created what has been called a distinctive "Ruskinian Gothic" style.
Following a crisis of religious belief Ruskin abandoned art criticism at the end of the 1850s, moving towards commentary on politics, under the influence of his great friend
Thomas Carlyle. In
Unto This Last he expounded his theories about social justice, which influenced the development of the British
Labour party and of
Christian socialism. Upon the death of his father, Ruskin declared that it was not possible to be a rich
socialist and gave away most of his
inheritance. He founded the charity known as the
Guild of St George in the 1870s and endowed it with large sums of money as well as a remarkable collection of art. He also gave the money to enable
Octavia Hill to begin her practical campaign of housing reform. He attempted to reach a wide readership with his pamphlets
Fors Clavigera, aimed at the "working men of England". He also taught at the
Working Men's College, London and was the first
Slade Professor of Fine Art at
Oxford, from
1869 to
1879, he also served a second term.
Ruskin College, Oxford is named after him.
While at Oxford Ruskin became friendly with
Lewis Carroll, another don, and was photographed by him. After the parting of Carroll and
Alice Liddell, she and her sisters pursued a similar relationship with Ruskin, as detailed in Ruskin's autobiography
Praeterita.
During this period Ruskin fell deeply in love with
Rose la Touche, an intensely religious young woman. He met her in
1858, when she was only ten years old, proposed to her eight years later, and was finally rejected in
1872. She died shortly afterwards. These events plunged Ruskin into despair and led to bouts of mental illness. He suffered from a number of breakdowns as well as delirious visions.
In
1878, he published a scathing review of paintings by
James McNeill Whistler exhibited at the
Grosvenor Gallery. He found particular fault with
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, and accused Whistler of "ask[ing] two hundred guineas for throwing a pot of paint in the public's face." Whistler filed a
libel suit against Ruskin. Whistler won the case, but the jury awarded him only one
farthing for damages; it split court costs between Ruskin and Whistler. The episode tarnished Ruskin's reputation, and may have accelerated his mental decline.
The emergence of the
Aesthetic movement and
Impressionism alienated Ruskin from the art world, and his later writings were increasingly seen as irrelevant, especially as he seemed to be more interested in book illustrators such as
Kate Greenaway than in modern art. He continued to support philanthropic movements such as the
Home Arts and Industries Association
Much of his later life was spent at a house called
Brantwood, on the shores of
Coniston Water located in the
Lake District of England. His assistant
W. G. Collingwood, the author, artist and antiquarian lived nearby.
