John Ruskin (Millais)

Painting by John Everett Millais

John Ruskin

Artist| Sir John Everett Millais
Year| 1853–1854
Medium| Oil on canvas
Dimensions| 78.7 cm × 68 cm (31.0 in × 27 in)
Location| Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

John Ruskin is a portrait of the leading Victorian art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900).[1][2][3] It was painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais (1829–1896) during 1853–54. John Ruskin was an early advocate of the Pre-Raphaelite group of artists and part of their success was due to his efforts.

The painting depicts Ruskin in front of a waterfall in Glenfinlas, Scotland. Ruskin and Millais spent the summer of 1853 together at Glenfinlas in the Trossachs.[4] Ruskin was especially interested in the rock formations and undertook his own studies of these.

## Creation

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The painting of Ruskin was started at Glenfinlas, during which the details of the landscape were painted. The last stages of work on the painting were undertaken in Millais' studio in London. By that time Ruskin's wife Effie had fallen in love with Millais. She left Ruskin and sued him for an annulment of the marriage. She and Millais were married the following year.

Study of Gneiss Rock, Glenfinlas, pen and ink, 1853, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Millais found it very difficult to be in the same room as Ruskin when he was completing the work in London, calling it "the most hateful task I have ever had to perform".[5] As soon as the portrait was finished he broke off contact with Ruskin. Ruskin himself temporarily moved the portrait so that his father would not see it, since he was concerned that he would damage or destroy it.

## Provenance

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The painting was given by Ruskin to his friend Henry Wentworth Acland in 1871. It was left to his daughter, the photographer Sarah Angelina Acland, who kept it above her desk at the Acland family home in Broad Street, central Oxford[6][7] and later at her own home in Park Town, North Oxford, where she photographed it in colour.[8][9] It was then passed down through the family until it was sold at Christie's in 1965. The purchaser retained the painting until they died in 2012. It was accepted by the British Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2013 and permanently allocated to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, to which it had been on loan since 2012 and where it has been on display since 2013.[5]

The painting has been exhibited several times, including exhibitions on the Pre-Raphaelites at Tate Britain London, during 1984 and 2004.[10] The painting was included in an exhibition on Colour Revolution in Victorian times at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford during 2023–24, together with the first colour photograph of the portrait taken by the pioneer colour photographer in her North Oxford home in Park Town, held in the History of Science Museum, Oxford.[11][12]

The painting was valued by the Director of Finance at Oxford University at £7.0 million in 2012–13.[13] The painting featured in the 2014 film Effie Gray.[14]

## See also

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* List of paintings by John Everett Millais
* Thomas Carlyle (Millais)

## References

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1. ^ Gehler, Greer. "Millais's Portrait of John Ruskin". The Victorian Web.
2. ^ "Sir John Everett Millais. John Ruskin. 1854. Oil on canvas. Private collection". abcgallery.com. Olga's Gallery.
3. ^ Easby, Rebecca Jeffrey (9 August 2015). "Sir John Everett Millais, Portrait of John Ruskin". Smarthistory. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
4. ^ "Ruskin and Millais at Glenfinlas". The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 138, no. 1117\. UK. April 1996. pp. 228–234\. JSTOR 886970.
5. ^ a b "Oxford's Ashmolean museum acquires Millais John Ruskin portrait". BBC News. UK: BBC. 20 May 2013.
6. ^ Hudson, Giles (2012). Sarah Angelina Acland: First Lady of Colour Photography. Oxford: Bodleian Library. pp. 180–181\. ISBN 978-1-85124-372-3.
7. ^ Hudson, Giles (20 May 2013). "Millais's Portrait of Ruskin, Sarah Angelina Acland, and Photography". britishphotohistory.ning.com. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
8. ^ "Colour Photograph (Autochrome) of the Millais Portrait of John Ruskin Hanging in her House at Park Town, Oxford, by Sarah Angelina Acland, Early 20th Century". UK: History of Science Museum, Oxford. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
9. ^ Hudson, Giles (20 May 2013). "Pre-Raphaelite Photography: Sarah Angelina Acland and Millais's Portrait of Ruskin at Glenfinlas". Matters Photographical. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
10. ^ "Pre-Raphaelite Vision: Truth to Nature". London, UK: Tate Britain. 2004. (12 February – 3 May 2004)
11. ^ Hewitson, Madeline (2023). "The Colourful Creatives: How Victorian Women Shaped Colour Technologies". UK: Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
12. ^ Bowen, Jonathan P. "Ruskin, Millais, and the Aclands: The colourful story of a painting, from oils to pixels". EVA London 2024: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts. eWiC. BCS. pp. 122–129\. doi:10.14236/ewic/EVA2024.21.
13. ^ Kerr, Giles (2013). "Financial Statements 2012/13 Commentary" (PDF). UK: University of Oxford. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
14. ^ Kingsley, Jenny (December 2014). "John Ruskin and Effie Gray – portrait of a marriage". Cassone: The International Online Magazine of Art and Art Books. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

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John Everett Millais

List of paintings

Paintings|

* Pizarro Seizing the Inca of Peru (1846)
* Isabella (1848–1849)
* Christ in the House of His Parents (1849–1850)
* Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (1850)
* Mariana (1851)
* The Return of the Dove to the Ark (1851)
* The Bridesmaid (1851)
* A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew's Day (1852)
* Ophelia (1851–1852)
* The Order of Release, 1746 (1852–1853)
* The Proscribed Royalist, 1651 (1852–1853)
* John Ruskin (1853–1854)
* The Rescue (1855)
* Autumn Leaves (1856)
* The Blind Girl (1856)
* Peace Concluded (1856)
* A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford (1857)
* The Vale of Rest (1858–1859)
* The Black Brunswicker (1860)
* Esther (1865)
* Vanessa (1868)
* The Boyhood of Raleigh (1870)
* Chill October (1870)
* Victory O Lord! (1871)
* The North-West Passage (1874)
* The Twins (1876)
* Thomas Carlyle (1877)
* Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli (1881)
* The Ruling Passion (1885)
* Bubbles (1886)

Related|

* Effie Gray (wife)
* John Guille Millais (son)
* Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
* Portrait of John Everett Millais (1852)
* The Love School (1975 miniseries)
* The Countess (1999 play)
* Desperate Romantics (2009 miniseries)
* Effie Gray (2014 film)

* v
* t
* e

John Ruskin

Works|

* The King of the Golden River (written 1842, published 1851)
* Modern Painters (1843–1860)
* The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)
* The Stones of Venice (1851–1853)
* Unto This Last (1860)
* Fors Clavigera (1870s)

Depictions|

* John Ruskin (1854 painting)
* Dante's Inferno (1967 film)
* The Love School (1975 miniseries)
* The Passion of John Ruskin (1994 film)
* The Countess (1999 play)
* Desperate Romantics (2009 miniseries)
* Effie Gray (2014 film)

Related|

* Arts and Crafts movement
* Brantwood
* Effie Gray (wife)
* Guild of St George
* Illth
* Mount Ruskin
* Pathetic fallacy
* Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
* Rose La Touche
* Ruskin Gallery
* Ruskin Monument
* Ruskin Museum
* Ruskin School of Drawing
* Sarvodaya
* The Ruskin, Lancaster

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