BEGINNING in I843 John Ruskin produced books,catalogues and journalism over a period of forty years devoted to the interpretation of the paintings and watercolours of J.M.W. Turner and the PreRaphaelites. In doing so he became England's greatest art critic, but his interests also encompassed Gothic architecture and Italian painting as well as manifold aspects of literature, religion, mythology, science and social issues. His unparalleled mastery of language enabled him to weave these themes together and transport his readers through wide reaches of time and space in the exploration of linkages between natural phenomena and the human condition, but his drawings, on which he placed great emphasis as a method of study in all his enterprises, deal with very specific moments in time as he attended to carefully selected objects or locations...

BEGINNING in I843 John Ruskin produced books,catalogues and journalism over a period of forty years devoted to the interpretation of the paintings and watercolours of J.M.W. Turner and the PreRaphaelites. In doing so he became England's greatest art critic, but his interests also encompassed Gothic architecture and Italian painting as well as manifold aspects of literature, religion, mythology, science and social issues. His unparalleled mastery of language enabled him to weave these themes together and transport his readers through wide reaches of time and space in the exploration of linkages between natural phenomena and the human condition, but his drawings, on which he placed great emphasis as a method of study in all his enterprises, deal with very specific moments in time as he attended to carefully selected objects or locations. They enable us to share his excitement in making direct contact with his environment by the act of drawing, when pencil, pen and brush acted rather like the stylus of a seismograph to record, in his case, the deep workings of an intense sensitivity to visual experience.

The drawings selected in this book from a distinguished private collection reveal new facets of a drawing activity that was clearly much more than a research tool. They provide a cross section of works requiring attention as expressions of a remarkable artistic talent offering many parallels with the freedom and individuality of the twentieth century. But Ruskin's drawing cannot be considered simply as the produce of a keen eye and highly developed aesthetic sense. His mind was always engaged as he drew and it is an important aim of this book to trace the memories, theories, passions and convictions associated with the subjects he chose to depict. The range of his ideas is extraordinary, but their connections with his drawings can be documented thanks to his enormous output as a writer and the published recollections of his friends. It is a dimension of his art that adds something to our conception of Ruskin as one of the most exceptional and creative individuals in the history of western culture.

List of Illustrations

A Ruskin Chronology

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Herne Hill

The Grimsel Pass and Valley of Grindelwald

Val Anzasca

The Pass of St Gotthard

Foliage on a Bank

Study of a River Bank, Beauvais

Crossmount

A Porch at St Vulfran's Church, Abbeville

The Alps from Venice

The Augustinian Convent, Fribourg

A Swiss Farm

The Bay of Uri, Lake Lucerne

Thunder Clouds, Turin

Lucerne

Summit of the Saleve

Baden, Switzerland

Dawn at Neuchatel

View of St Vulfran, Abbeville

Ponte della Pietra, Verona

Piazza delle Erbe, Verona

The Grand Canal and Ca'Falier, Venice

Church of San Michele and the Fondamenta Nuove Venice

North Portal, Cathedral of Beauvais

Chalk Cliffs at Sens

The Market Place, Beauvais