Velvet Crab (1870)
Watercolour by John Ruskin (1819-1900), the writer, philosopher, architectural commentator and art critic who was a leading cultural figure in Victorian England. In his writings, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. His central tenet was that an artist should be “true to nature.” To that end, he championed the work of JMW Turner, but he was less enamoured with James McNeil Whistler’s art, whom he characterised as a “coxcomb” and accused of “flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.” Whistler successfully sued Ruskin for defamation, but the philistine English court awarded the expatriate and bohemian American a mere farthing’s worth of damages.
Ruskin is less known as an artist in his own right, but he made detailed studies of rocks, flora, fauna and architectural details.
Velvet Crab (1870)
Watercolour by John Ruskin (1819-1900), the writer, philosopher, architectural commentator and art critic who was a leading cultural figure in Victorian England. In his writings, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. His central tenet was that an artist should be “true to nature.” To that end, he championed the work of JMW Turner, but he was less enamoured with James McNeil Whistler’s art, whom he characterised as a “coxcomb” and accused of “flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.” Whistler successfully sued Ruskin for defamation, but the philistine English court awarded the expatriate and bohemian American a mere farthing’s worth of damages.
Ruskin is less known as an artist in his own right, but he made detailed studies of rocks, flora, fauna and architectural details.