Modern Painters, John Ruskin, Edited And Abridged, David Barrie, c. 1987
I picked this book up years ago in San Antonio, at Half-Price Books.
I have looked at it briefly off and on over the years.
It certainly intrigues me.
I could be wrong, but it's all about landscape artists. Early on Ruskin mentions "Claude." I had not hear of "Claude" before and thought he was referring to Claude Monet. I was wrong. In fact, he was referring to Claude Lorraine (wiki). See blog.
From another book: link here.
The Correct Use of Whales: Hull, or Kingston-Upon-Hull, Yorkshire; polar bears feared more than whales by whalers; 1822 -- Hull, England's most successful whaling port;
Tunstall whale; Beale's journey, 1830, coast of South America, Cape
Horn, across the Pacific to Hawaii, and on to Kamchatka Peninsula;
echoed the work of Charles Darwin, whose own voyage on the Beagle was under way even as Beale reached the South Sea; J.M.W. Turner; Melville's passion for Turner almost rivalled that of the artist's champion, John Ruskin; Melville read Ruskin's Modern Painters, before his trip to England; Beale supplied Ismael's cetology; Beale to whales as Darwin to finches.
I noted that I haven't posted notes on this book yet (April 1, 2026) -- apparently it's time to get started.
Narrative: 591 pages; does not include index.
First thought after starting this project: Ruskin, as a writer and perhaps as a thinker, has been greatly ignored. Great ignored. Amazing.
Bottom of page 17, first page of the introduction, this line: Turner himself seems to have been rather embarrassed by the extravagant praise heaped upon and no doubt shook his head over Ruskin's rough treatment of Claude, whom he (Turner) deeply respected.
Claude, I assume was Claude Monet.
Introduction
A naturalist, first and foremost. Huge impact on the Pre-Raphaelites, particularly Holman Hunt. See conclusion in chapter, p. 39.
First volume published in 1843; Ruskin was only 24 at the time; first embarked on this project in 1836 -- seven years earlier, putting him at age 17 when he started this project; in response to a "vitriolic review in Blackwood's Magazine of some paintings by Turner n that year's Royal Academy exhibition.
Nothing came of in. In 1842 another "outburst of philistine critical abuse reawoke Ruskin's indignation, and as they say, "the rest is history."
Biographic background: fascinating, begins on page 18. Ends on page 33. Wow. A small book in itself.
Main themes:
Conclusion: it begins --
In a short introduction it would be futile to attempt to examine thoroughly the astonishingly diverse array of ideas and images contained in Modern Painters.
Quite apart from its size and complexity, there is something Protean about it.
Ruskin was a self-indulgent writer and, though he had a powerful analytical mind, he cared less and less for argumentative tidiness and rigour (sic) as he grew older.
Like that other great nineteenth century prophet, Nietzshe (to whom he bears more than a passing resemblance), he was not ashamed to contradict himself. In the preface to Volume V, he excused himself by claiming that "all true opinions are living, and show their life by being capable of nourishment; therefore of change." but, he added, "their change is that of a tree not of a cloud."
Whether or not one accepts the validity of this metaphor, it would be unreasonable to expect any writer dealing with issues as profound as those tackled in Modern Painters not to modify his ideas over the course of seventeen years.
From Virginia Woolf, p. 36:
"As Virginia Woolf said: 'The style in page after page of Modern Painters is written takes our breath away. We find ourselves marvelling at the words, as if all the fountains of the English language had been set playing in the sunlight for our pleasure' (The Captain's Deathbed, article on Ruskin).
p. 37: Ruskin's enthusiasm for minuteess of handling and complete naturalism reached out through Holman Hunt to the other Pre-Raphaelites and beyond, as did his conviction that great art ought to serve a high moral or spiritual purpose.
1850s: Ruskin's critical reputation stood at its highest point; his opinions on artistic matters were treated almost as Gospel.
Ruskin wrote so well and so much / so often on Turner, Ruskin actually overshadowed Turner. Ruskin = Turner.
But:
Long before his death in 1900, Ruskin had come to be seen in avant garde circles as a backward-looking proponent of an outmoded narrative style of at. The rise of the Aesthetic Movement -- in which Whistler was the most prominent artistic figure -- can be seen a direct challenge to Ruskin's teachings about the moral and spiritual significance of art, although, ironically. it owed much to Ruskin's inspiration. Intellectuals of the Bloomsbury generation, in thrall to Roger Fry and his doctrine of "significant form," regarded Ruskin as a figure of fun. to judge frm the sales of his books, Ruskin's popularity with the wider public actually increased towards the end of his life, but it seems to have gone in to a steep decline around the time of the First World War, as part of the obscure process by which all things Victoria gradually became deeply unfashionable.
Classical -- Naturalism/Realism -- Pre-Raphaelite -- Impressionism -- Aesthetic Movement -- Modern
1840:
Turner: Romantic painter, 1775 - 1851, 65 years old (1840), died at age 76;
Ruskin: 1819 - 1900, 21 years old (1840); Modern Painters, 1843 - 1860; died at age 81;
Holman Hunt: 1827 -- 1910; Pre-Raphaelite; 13 years old (1840);
Whistler: 1834 - 1903; six years old (1840); Aesthetic Movement;
Claude Monet: 1840 - 1926; born in 1840; younger, but a contemporary of Whistler;
Virginia Woolf: 1882 - 1941; in 1928, she can only read Ruskin; read about Turner;
Moby Dick published 1851; Modern Painters, Volume I, 1843. One assumes Herman Melville was reading Modern Painters even at the time he was writing Moby Dick.
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The Modern Welfare State
