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John Ruskin

2 of 80 portraits of John Ruskin

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John Ruskin

by George Richmond
black and white chalk, circa 1857
16 3/4 in. x 14 in. (425 mm x 356 mm)
Purchased, 1896
Primary Collection
NPG 1058

Sitterback to top

  • John Ruskin (1819-1900), Writer, artist and social reformer. Sitter associated with 80 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • George Richmond (1809-1896), Portrait painter and draughtsman; son of Thomas Richmond. Artist or producer associated with 337 portraits, Sitter in 14 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Foister, Susan, Cardinal Newman 1801-90, 1990 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 March - 20 May 1990), p. 27 Read entry

    Ruskin was an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, between 1837 and 1840, when the Oxford Movement was at its most influential. He came from a Scottish Calvinist family, and was apparently uninfluenced by the Tractarian cause, but he was already keenly interested in architecture, and was a founder member of the Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic Architecture.

    Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture, published in 1849 after his reputation had been made with the first volumes of Modern Painters, was an important and highly individual contribution to the literature of the Gothic revival. This drawing was executed in about 1843 (at almost the same time that Richmond portrayed Newman); Ruskin had recently returned from a European tour undertaken for his health.

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 130
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 538

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1857back to top

Current affairs

Palmerston passes the Matrimonial Causes Act in the face of parliamentary opposition. The act establishes divorce courts, although women, unlike men, are not allowed to sue for divorce on the grounds of adultery.
The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition is held, a follow-up to the Great Exhibition of 1851, although highlighting Britain's private art collections rather than industry and technology. More than 1.3 million people visit the event.

Art and science

Elizabeth Gaskell publishes The Life of Charlotte Brontë, a year after the author's death. The controversial biography consolidates the myth of the Brontë sisters as isolated geniuses living in remote Yorkshire.
Illustrator George Scharf becomes the first Secretary of the National Portrait Gallery, overseeing the collection's growth and its several moves around London before a permanent home is established in 1896, the year after Scharf's death.

International

The Indian Revolt was a significant rebellion against the rule of the East Indian Company and a culmination of decades of discontent about British rule. After a year of horrific violence on both sides, the revolt was suppressed. It led to a more involved role by the British government in India, taking over responsibility from the East India Company.

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