John Ruskin: No Wealth But Life Book

John Ruskin (1819-1900) ranks alongside Lord Byron and Walter Scott as the most important Romantic figure of the 19th century. His art and architecture criticism--notably in Modern Painters and Stones of Venice--fuelled the Victorian preoccupation with all things Gothic and paved the way for the new naturalism of the pre-Raphaelite painters and designers. In his social criticism of the 1860s and 1870s, set out in works such as Time and Tide and Unto This Last, Ruskin took up the moral indictment of industrial capitalism where Thomas Carlyle had left off in the 1840s and, in so doing, contributed to the ethical socialism which became the hallmark of the early Labour Party. In championing the simple virtues of plebeian craftsmanship through his teaching and philanthropy, Ruskin sowed the seeds of vocational adult education. Yet Ruskin's was a tragic life. Subject to the stifling attentions of his over-protective parents, awkward amongst his social peers and sexually repressed (with a Lewis Carroll-like preference for little girls), Ruskin was not a happy soul. His wife left him for Millais, the greatest loves of his life were unrequited and he died mad. John Batchelor's moving and comprehensive biography shows us not only the Victorian icon but also the complex and introverted soul. It is a worthy read. --Miles TaylorRead More