RUSKIN’S HOME

Evening Star, Issue 21835, 26 September 1934, Page 13

RUSKIN’S HOME

NOW A NATIONAL MUSEUM The last thirty years of John Ruskiii’s life were spent at Brantwood, a small but beautiful house beside Coniston Water, Lancashire, and it is to the credit of the Ruskin Society and Mr J. Howard Whitehousc, its president, in particular, that this picturesque old homo has at last been opened as a national memorial (savs J. _R. W. T., writing in the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald’). It is to be held in trust for the society in perpetuity, and will be used as a • conference house, a guest house, and a museum. Many of Ruskin’s drawings, books, and manuscripts are to be collected and exhibited there, although there is every intention not to allow so lovely and distinguished a residence to degenerate into a mere show place. The great essayist had a tremendous affection for Brantwood, despite the fact that he originally bought the property without having seen it. He went there in 1871, and died peacefully in a bedroom on the upper floor in 1900.

Lying at the foot of a wooded hillside, flic house faces a little harbour that Ruskin himself constructed for his pleasure boats. It commands a magnificent view across the lake to Coniston Old Man and a range of rocky heights which have been described as among the finest in tlie country. Ruskin never tired of the prospect, and was constantly singing its praises. “ Anything so lovely as the view- from my rocks to-day I haven’t seen since I was at Lake Maggiore,” ho wrote to Mrs Severn in’ 1872. It was a sight that fully harmonised with his keen aesthetic taste, and doubtless it inspired his pen in contemplative moments. Nor have the passing years brought violent changes to the landscape and quiet waters. Wore he to return to Brantwood, he would still find everything much the same, though almost everywhere else in this pleasant land of England nature is being sorely outraged. IRREGULAR STRUCTURE. At first glance, Brantwood appears to be a, somewhat wandering structure of unbalanced architecture. Ruskin found it a modest two-story villa of stone, with a parlour, a dining-room, and a flagged kitchen. It was altogether too small for In’s needs, and from time to time ho faced the inevitable task of making the necessary additions. These came gradually. First, he built a new dining-room and library, then a turreted bedroom over the dining-room, and, Anally, a largo irregular wing at right angles from tho back of the house, _ climbing towards the hillside which was his “ back yard.” Thus he spent his leisure and his money, until, in the end, he had a home completely to Ids liking, and rich with that haphazard charm so beloved by the true artist. Brantwood worked magically on Ruskin’s soul, for it was there that he “ found himself ” again after that stormy period of bickering and controversy which almost wrecked his life. In this new little world of his own making he regained the spirit and interest that so dearly manifested itself in his later work. Here it wa£, too, that he entertained the understanding friends who lay so close to his heart. The study where he worked, often by candlelight before the dawn

had broken over the lake, is a- noble room with a bay window overlooking the water. It now contains a bust of his head made in youth—the original is in the National Portrait Gallery—and is hung with some of Ink own clelightful water-colours. At the opening ceremony recently Mr Howard Whitehouso said that the house would shortly contain a complete collection of reproductions of Ruskin’s pictures, a large number of I his original drawings and paintings, many editions of his books, and several important manuscripts. Generous offers of further exhibits had been re-, ceived from all over the country, including a collection of original works by the late Arthur Severn, the son of Kent’s, friend, who lived with his wife and family at Brantwood as Ruskin’s guest, and continued to occupy it until his death three years ago. Loan exhibitions from Mr Whitehouse’s famous Ruskiu collection at Bembridge School, ,in the Isle of Wight, will also be arranged from time to time, and the valuable paintings by Severn will be hung in the great studio in which most of them were painted. Among the latter is the famous copy of Turner’s ‘ St. Gothard Pass,’ which Ruskin declared himself unable to distinguish from the original. Brantwood has been opened with the blessing of every man of letters and thought, for, as Mr Whitehouse declared at the ceremony, “ Ruskin has a groat message for these times, and his doctrine will inspire the youth of the nation in their attempt to create a better world.”