This is the second and final volume of Tim Hilton's acclaimed life
of John Ruskin, one of the greatest writers and thinkers of the
nineteenth century. Ruskin was the most prolific English writer
there has ever been. His published works alone number some 250
titles, and this is besides lectures, diaries, and tens of
thousands of letters that remain unpublished. This is the first
biography of Ruskin to return to the original source material, some
of which has been read for the first time since being written, by
the author. It begins in 1859 with Ruskin, famous as the author of
'Modern Painters', 'The Seven Lamps of Architecture' and 'The
Stones of Venice', living in south London with his parents, his
disastrous marriage over, continuing to write and travel and to
tutor, amongst other pupils, Rose La Touche, a girl of ten, with
whom he slowly fell in love. This relationship would develop into
one of the saddest love affairs of literary history ending in
tragedy in 1875, and from which Ruskin would never recover.From
1875 onwards Ruskin was plagued by bouts of insanity and despair
that would lead to total breakdown for the last ten years of his
life, but, as Hilton shows, the later years, far from being a
period merely of decline, were a time when the great man's
intellect and imagination reached new heights. It was in these
years that Ruskin produced 'Praeterita' and most of 'Fors
Clavigera' - the series of monthly letters to British workers which
Hilton discusses in the context of the writer's life. Ruskin's
versatility was astonishing. He could be instigating plans for
draining slum marshland on the outskirts of Oxford or setting up
the philanthropic 'Guild of St George', or he was adding to his
extensive collections of minerals or paintings (particularly
Turners) or literary manuscripts. As Slade Professor of Art at the
University of Oxford he founded his drawing schools, today the
Ruskin School of Art. His books and lectures were on subjects
ranging from history of art to social reform to botany. Hilton
gives a magisterial and moving account of this brilliant and
creative mind and shows Ruskin to have been the most eloquent and
radical of all the great Victorian writers.Tim Hilton has taught
painting and history of art in several British art schools and
universities. His previous books include 'The Pre-Raphaelites',
'Picasso', and 'The Sculpture of Phillip King'. He has written the
catalogues of a number of exhibitions, including 'Drawings by Miro'
(1980), 'Picasso's Picassos' (1982) and 'Anthony Caro' (1984).
Former art critic for the 'Guardian' and the 'Independent on
Sunday', his 'John Ruskin: The Early Years' was published in 1985
and remains available today.
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