John Ruskin: The Power of seeing


Fantastic exhibition at Two Temple Place looking at the life and work of John Ruskin to mark 200 years since his birth.

This exhibition borrowed items from lots of places but was centred on Guild of St George Collection now at Sheffield Museum. It was arranged chronologically starting with his being given a book of etchings by Turner aged 13 which sparked his interest in art. He was already a child prodigy and the show included a map of Scotland her drew at 9.

I was amazed at the detail in his watercolours and drawings. His style changed from trying to express the sublime in landscape to recording the detail of architecture and nature.

Of course I loved the section on Venice which as well as having his drawings also included photographs he commissioned from Frederick Crawley, one of the casts of details he had made and watercolours from John Wharton Burney. I loved the latter’s huge picture of the façade of St Mark’s. It was a nice touch to have also borrowed the picture of Doge Andrea Gritti Ruskin had owned from the National Gallery.

I also liked the room upstairs where the curator had recreated the look and feel of the museum Ruskin  opened in a cottage near Sheffield with a wonderful eclectic mix of objects and pictures, all shown without labels. I loved the idea that the first curator of that museum Henry Swan was described as a spiritualist, vegetarian and boomerang thrower!

Closes on 22 April 2019

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