Ruskin, Turner; and the Pre-Raphaelites - art collector John Ruskin - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, March, 2000 by Miriam Kramer

John Ruskin, who died one hundred years ago, had a profound influence on artists, politicians, and writers in Britain and overseas. He was the son of a wealthy merchant and much of his education was acquired from his extensive international travels. To commemorate the centennial of his death, an exhibition entitled Ruskin, Turner and The Pre-Raphaelites is on view at the Tate Gallery in London from March 9 to May 28. It is sponsored by Sun Life and Provincial Holdings.

Ruskin's five-volume Modern Painters (1843-1860) concentrated on landscape painting and defended such contemporary artists as Joseph Mallord William Turner against the old masters, who were more popular at the time. Ruskin also championed the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group with which he had close links.

His wife Effie, in fact, left him to marry the Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896).

Among his many activities, Ruskin wrote poetry and critical essays, lectured at Oxford University and to workingmen's organizations, patronized contemporary artists and collected their works, and himself produced many paintings and drawings. Many of his views on social issues influenced early British socialist thinking, especially that of William Morris (1834-1896).

A book with the same title as the exhibition, edited by Robert Hewison.