8 February 2022 Susannah

8 February 1819: John Ruskin is born

John Ruskin portrait by John Everett Millais, 1853-1854

The only fairy tale John Ruskin ever wrote, The King of the Golden River was written for 12-year-old Effie (Euphemia) Gray, whom Ruskin later married. Published in 1851 it became an early Victorian classic and three editions sold out. [1]

John Ruskin was an English art critic, social thinker, and philanthropist during the Victorian era. He is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of art criticism and aesthetics.

Born on 8 February 1819 in London, England, to wealthy wine merchant John James Ruskin, and his pious evangelical wife, Margaret, John Ruskin was raised in a privileged and sheltered environment by parents who dedicated themselves to cultivating their only child’s genius. His father, a collector of art, instilled in the boy a love for Romanticism, and his mother, a religious woman, taught young John to read the King James Bible from beginning to end.

In a childhood marked by strict parenting and religious devotion, young John received a rigorous education at home by a series of tutors. Later he attended school in Peckham before matriculating to the University of Oxford in 1836.

Ruskin was greatly influenced by the extensive and privileged travels he enjoyed in his childhood. He sometimes accompanied his father on visits to business clients at their country houses, which exposed him to English landscapes, architecture, and paintings. As early as 1825, the family visited France and Belgium. Their continental tours became increasingly ambitious, visiting Strasbourg, Schaffhausen, Milan, Genoa and Turin, places to which Ruskin frequently returned. In 1835 he visited Venice for the first time, a city that would occupy his intellect and imagination for decades.

Ruskin was an incredibly prolific writer, publishing more than 50 books on a huge range of topics from art criticism to fiction, and political treatises to travel guides, and he was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century. Despite his varied interests and accomplishments, he is perhaps best remembered for his role in shaping Victorian attitudes toward art and society, and his influence continues to be felt in the modern era.

Ruskin died from influenza on 20 January 1900 at the age of 80.