Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting film looking at the life of Effie Grey and her marriage to John Ruskin. It was interesting to see this film only a couple of days after seeing Mr Turner as Ruskin and Effie feature in that as well. I thought his was a good picture of the art world at this time. I loved the Royal Academy dinner and I thought Emma Thompson was majestic as Lady Eastlake. I would have liked a bit more about the Pre-Raphaelite’s as a group as although they appeared there was no real sense of their revolutionary effect and quite how bold Ruskin was to support them. I would have also liked more about Effie’s later life with Millais.. As it was it ended almost abruptly with Effie leaving Ruskin. I would have liked some idea of how the annulment worked, was there a court case? Even a note on the credits would have given some closure to the movie. My major gripe though was using Ophelia on the poster! The film does not imply that Effie modelled for Ophelia and does refer to Millais h...

Lovely exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery focusing on drawings and watercolours by Ruskin. The works set up a nice contrast between the very detailed architectural studies, often focusing in on a particular detail, and pictures of vast mountains and scenery.   I was also interested to see him copying the work of other artists such as Carpaccio’s “Dream of St Ursula” and that he also collected, and later took, photographs. There was one picture of a Blenheim Orange Apple which you felt you could have just picked up the fruit and eaten it.