Who was John Ruskin?
John Ruskin (1819-1900) was born in London, England. His father was a wealthy wine merchant. Ruskin was educated at the University of Oxford, where he was awarded a prize for poetry, his earliest interest. It was there that he met Joseph Mallord William Turner, whom he began to defend against critics in an 1836 essay. His Modern Painters series was responsible for the early popularity of the artist as well as the pre-Raphaelite movement. Ruskin spent much of his later life at a house called Brantwood, on the shores of Coniston Water located in the Lake District of England. Ruskin taught first at the Working Mens College in London. He was the first Slade Professor of Art at Oxford University, from 1869 to 1879. There John Ruskin friendly with Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), the author of Alices Adventures in Wonderland and was photographed by him. Ruskin College at Oxford is named after him. Upon the death of his father, Ruskin declared that it was not possible to be a rich socialist and gav
John Ruskin was considered a latter-day prophet fulfilling a three-fold function of warning and teaching by the past, exhorting to the performance of duties in the present, and presenting high ideals for the future. His great knowledge of art and original power of observation, combined with a gift of writing noble English, were fully used and developed under the most favorable conditions. His growing sympathy with mankind led him to study economics; he poured forth sometimes wild, but always original and suggestive remedies for the social ills he saw around him. John Ruskin was the first Slade Professor of Art at Oxford, where he founded and endowed a Drawing School, and the Oxford Museum owed much to his contributions of time and money. He put many of his social ideas into practice and expended in this way and in charity the large fortune left him by his father. His great aim was to bring happiness within the reach of all by showing that the greatest treasure and the highest wisdom ne
One of the greatest thinkers of the Victorian era, John Ruskin remains a central figure in the history of art and architecture. He believed passionately in improving the lives of ordinary people, and was an early champion of causes like a national health service, retraining for the unemployed, and public galleries and libraries. He also had close connections with Croydon. His mother was born there, and he visited the area throughout his life, growing to love the River Wandel. His parents are buried in Shirley, and he erected a fountain in Carshalton, dedicated to his mother. Ruskin saw architecture as the most public of the arts. A civilization, he believed, could be judged on the quality of its public spaces. Today, that same belief has inspired the creation of Ruskin Square.
