THIS WEEK'S GREAT MAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 57, 7 March 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

THIS WEEK'S GREAT MAN.

JOHN RUSKIN, 1819-1900.

John Ruskin, the most eloquent and original of all writer# upon art, was born in London on February 9, 1819, his father being an Edinburgh merchant. His mother, who was strictly evangelical and saw evil even in toys, forced him by steady daily toil to learn long chapters of the Bible by heart, and it was to this early acquaintance with this simple and P ur * English that Ruskin afterwards attributed the clarity and beauty of his style. In. 183 6 Ruskin won the Newdigate prize for English poetry at Oxford. He took his degree in 1842, and in the following year appeared the first volume of " Modern Painters " a notable achievement for a young man of twenty-three. It was not until the edition of 1857 was brought out that his name appeared on the title page. It was essentially in i':s spirit and aim. The unequalled splendour of its style gave it a place in literature. Its views of art gradually made way and largely determined the course and character of later English art. "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" appeared in 1849. Ruskin's seven leading principles of architecture were sacrifice, truth, power, beauty, life, memory and obedience. In 1851 was published * Stones of Venice." " Unto this Last" appeared in 1862, "Sesame and Lilies," 1865, "The Ethics of the Dust. 1866, and "The Crown of Wild Olives' in the same year. On the death of his father in 1867 Ruskin inherited a fortune of £157,000. He had many pensioners, assisted struggling artists and gave generously to Miss Octavia Hill s housing campaign. From 1869-1879 he was Slade Professor of Fine Arts at Oxford. In 1871 the degree of LL.D. was bestowed upon him by the University of Cambridge. He died from influenza on January 20, 1900, and was buried at Coniston.