JOHN RUSKIN—ART CRITIC.
Twenty-eight years ago, articles of wonderful force, beauty, and breadth of tone, began to appear from some unknown pen, in the literary journals of London. These articles attracted notice from the best minds as they advocated a new and startling theory in art—the theory of Pre-Raphaelitism, as it has since been called. The author of these articles was John Ruskin—since become so famous—then in his twenty-fourth year. Ruskin was the son of a wealthy London merchant, and, unlike most men of genius he has never known any of the bitter struggles of poverty. From his boyhood he has been accustomed to elegance and plenty, the society of refined men and women, and his mind has been enlarged by almost incessant and instructive travel. He was very fond of the true and beautiful in Nature, and it is recorded of him, that when a child he had one favorite spot—Friar's Crag, in Derwentwater, which overhung a lake,—and here he was brought daily by his fond nurse, who secretly gratified the child's taste for the picturesque by allowing him to hang over the brow of the cliff, and when permitted to do so he would gaze for hours with intense joy and mingled awe into the depths of the dark waters below, hanging on by the grassy roots which bloomed on the surface of the cliff. He had always a feeling of awe and heart hunger in the presence of mountains, and, at fifteen years of age, he had ascended the summits of the most elevated hills in England. A landscape delighted him, while belle lettres and mathematics only wearied his retrospective soul. At twenty, his reflective and practical powers had increased by the incessant traveling which he undertook, having visited every European city of note, but in all these travels Venice always remained dear to his heart. At Oxford he was a gentleman-commoner of Christ Church, where he carried off the Newdigate prize for a poem called "Salsette and Elephanta," a fragment now forgotten, and was graduated double fourth class in 1842. Among his teachers in landscape painting, which he loved with all his great heart, he had such men as Copely Fielding, Harding and Prout. His great admiration was for Turner, however, and this love led him to the field of art criticism, in defence of that eminent painter.
RUSKIN'S LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL.
In 1843, the first volume of Ruskin's "Modern Painters" appeared, and created the greatest sensation. No art critic had yet appeared with such a wealth of language, and such an affluence of imaginative ideas combined with the most striking powers of observation, and an earnestness bordering on enthusiasm. Never thinking beforehand of the subject, his philosophy and criticism consists mostly of brilliant invective, and he is continually involving himself by his inconsistencies, yet, so great was his power, a new school in art was founded by him, with such disciples as Millais, Holman Hunt, and others, equally well known.
He is sometimes diffuse and discursive, and is far behind Henri Taine for perspicuity of style, though far more solid, concentrated, and vigorous, in his blows. The first volumes of Ruskin's "Lamps of Architecture" made their appearance in 1849, and were followed by the first volume of "The Stones of Venice," in 1851, the illustrations in the latter provoking much hostility, but displaying to great advantage his artistic powers. Ruskin has lectured and written on Manufactures, Gothic Architecture, and Painting, and he has said to have realized, by his works the sum of £95,000. He has a careworn face, sloped shoulders, and wavy silken hair. His habits are simple, and it is said that he is Brahminical in his tastes, never touching butcher's meat. His large private fortune enables him to extend his benevolence to struggling students, and others who are in need of assistance. Ruskin has taken up the cause of the workingmen of England with great zeal, and is now in his forty-ninth year.
FROUDE, THE HISTORIAN.
Since the death of Macaulay, England has had no successor to that eminent and great man in the field of history, until of late years James Anthony Froude has risen like a meteor to irradiate the dark places and bloody scenes of English history. The author of the "History of England from the Fall of Wolsey," may well claim a niche among the loftiest names who have searched the archives of empire and statecraft. James Anthony Froude comes of a High Church clerical family, and was born at Dartington, Devonshire, April 23, 1818. His father, the late Venerable R.H. Froude, was Archdeacon of Totnes, and young Froude went to Westminster School, the most aristocratic of its kind in England, and afterwards was graduated with high classical honors at Oriel College, Oxford, obtaining the Chancellor's prize for an essay on "Political Economy," and was elected Fellow of Exeter College in 1842.
