RUSKIN AND VICTORIAN INTELLECTUAL LIFE

Manuscripts of John Ruskin (1819-1900) from the Ruskin Library, University of Lancaster

Part 1: Diaries, 1835-1888

Part 2: Correspondence with Joan Severn, 1864-1899

Publisher's Note

“As recent histories of literature, art, architecture, design and political theory make clear, we are just beginning to perceive the degree to which John Ruskin, Interpreter, influenced his own age and continues to affect ours. Ruskin, however, possesses more than historical importance. He remains England’s great art critic, and his magnificent prose still teaches us to see and to see better.”

George Landow
Professor of English, Brown University
from Ruskin, at www.victorianweb.org/authors/ruskin/ruskinov.html

Ruskin was the pre-eminent critic of the Victorian era. He helped to shape taste - influencing perceptions of art, architecture, literature, and landscape.

He was also a powerful social and political commentator, encouraging communal responsibility, praising the dignity of labour, and arguing for women’s education, and a better life for the working man. His views on environmental issues, the role of museums, and the preservation of heritage are attracting increasing interest.

His diaries have long been acknowledged as one of the most important sources for understanding his life, his thought and his influence. Hitherto, they have only been made available in an inadequate printed edition.

In co-operation with the Ruskin Foundation and the Ruskin Library at Lancaster University, we can now offer access to a complete facsimile of the diaries on microfilm.

There are 29 volumes of diaries in total covering the period 1835, 1840-41, 1844-52, 1854, 1856-78, 1880-85, 1888. These comprise over 4,000 pages ranging from continental tour in 1835 at the age of sixteen, to his last tour abroad in 1888. As such, they provide insights into Ruskin as a precocious young man, challenging received ideas, and of Ruskin the great Victorian sage, mentally troubled, and whose opinion is constantly being sought. In addition to his descriptions of the places he visits and the people he meets, there are also many sketches and embellishments in the text – whether these are sketches from nature or architectural details. There are excursions into aesthetic theory, church history, and loving descriptions of Venice.

The diaries show the full range of his enthusiasms. One moment he is describing mountain passes in Switzerland and concepts of the sublime, the next he is studying geology and rock formations. There is material on botany and myths, Scott and Turner, Egypt and Rome, and the later diaries include many reminiscences.

The diary for 1840 (Ms 3, with later sections for 1843-1847) starts with a note stating:

“I have determined to keep one sort of diary for intellect and another for feeling - I shall put down here whatever is worth remembering of the casual knowledge that we gain so much of every day in conversation - and generally lose every tomorrow - much is thus lost that can never be recovered from books.”

This is reflected in the volumes that follow. Notes on modern painters and the many architectural wonders that he saw, jostle together with accounts of his dreams and his daily mood. Thoughts on chiaroscuro and the picturesque, are matched by mini-essays on the teeth on cog-wheels and the basics of heraldry. Later diaries have increasing religious content and are more sombre. For instance:

“7TH WEDNESDAY [October 1874] Hotel du Mont Blanc. My father’s room. Probably I now sit here for the last time as nobody can keep the hotel, everyone passes.

A lovely morning. Seven o’clock. Sun just come in at window over faded Mont Blanc. The infinite sadness of it all, to me now. My poor father - mother - Ann - more with me - more lost to me, here, than ever yet. Mont Blanc itself dead….”

But there are still moments of joy, particularly when contemplating nature:

“15th SATURDAY [May 1875] ...Arundel Park, where the chalk spring fills the dingle … too beautiful for a dream ….”

Part 2 of this project covers Ruskin’s correspondence with Joan Severn (1846-1924), his cousin, provide an excellent foil to the diaries. There are over 3,000 letters in total, mostly unpublished, and covering the period 1864-65, 1867-99. Starting as a correspondence between a teenager and an established icon of Victorian society, we witness the evolution of the relationship, with Joan Severn ending up as Ruskin’s primary carer. These letters are perhaps the best source we have for the latter years of Ruskin’s life.

Taken together, the diaries and letters provide a platform for examining Art (especially Italian Art and Architecture, Turner, the Pre-Raphaelites), Literature (his own writings and the authors he read) and Travel (especially to France, the Alps and Italy). They will provide fresh insights into one of the Victorian era’s greatest minds.

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