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1834–1900 · Virkested

Great Britain

1850s

Patron of Hunt, Rossetti and Burne-Jones

Ruskin continues to support Holman Hunt and Rossetti, provides an annuity of £150 in 1855–57 to Rossetti's wife Elizabeth Siddal (and pays for Henry Acland's medical care of her), and gives critical and financial help to John Brett, John William Inchbold and Edward Burne-Jones, whom he calls “Brother Ned”. His father disapproves of such friends — a further cause of tension between them.

1851–1853

The three-volume “Stones of Venice”

Growing from a technical history of Venetian architecture, from the Byzantine to the Renaissance, into a broad cultural history, the work is a warning to contemporary England about the moral and spiritual health of society: Ruskin explains the decline of Venice by the loss of true Christian faith. The chapter “The Nature of Gothic” from the second volume — a critique of the division of labour and industrial capitalism — will be published by William Morris as a separate book.

summer 1853

Millais paints Ruskin's portrait at Glen Finglas

In the summer of 1853 Ruskin and Effie take Millais and his brother to Scotland: at Glen Finglas the painter paints the closely observed landscape background of gneiss rock to which, as had always been intended, he later adds Ruskin's portrait. In these years Ruskin supports Millais as patron and mentor.

November 1853

First public lectures, in Edinburgh

In November 1853 Ruskin gives his first public lectures, on architecture and painting, in Edinburgh; from the 1850s he becomes an increasingly popular public lecturer.

April – July 1854

Effie leaves Ruskin and the marriage is annulled

Suffering from illness and from fierce quarrels with her husband and his overly protective parents, Effie goes to her own parents in Scotland; she and Millais have fallen in love, and her leaving causes a public scandal. In April 1854 she files a suit of nullity on grounds of non-consummation, which is granted in July; Ruskin does not even mention it in his diary.