INTRODUCTION 9 AN AGE OF SUPERLATIVES 12 The darker side 15 1819-30: EDEN IN SOUTH LONDON 19 Infant years 19 — Move to Herne Hill 21 — Precocious writings 23 1830-40: STUDIES AND FIRST LOVE 27 The national background 27 — Ruskin at home and travelling 27 — Oxford 31 — Work 33— Illness 35 RUSKIN AND ART ONE: TURNER AND NATURE 36 1840-50: THE AUTHOR OF MODERN PAINTERS 39 First travels alone 43 — Marriage 48 — Mr & Mrs Ruskin in Venice 53 RUSKIN AND ARCHITECTURE 58 1850-60: ARCHITECTURE AND ADULTERY 63 The Stones of Venice 63 — The Scottish Summer 67 — The Nature of Gothic 70 — Enter Morris 71 — Ruskin’s Un-Conversion 77 RUSKIN AND SOCIETY 80 1860-70: THE PROPHET AND HIS SORROWS 83 Rose La Touche: One 83 — Unto This Last 84 — Rose Again 91 RUSKIN AND ART TWO: CRITICISM AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 98 1870-80: THE PROFESSOR 101 Fors Clavigera 103 — Brantwood 106 — Enter Wilde 113 — The Death of Rose 114 — Enter Whistler 118 RUSKIN AND THE NATURAL WORLD 120 1880-90: LONELY EMINENCE 125 The Bible of Amiens 125 — The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century 131 — Praeterita 133 1890-1900 AND BEYOND 137 Fin de siècle 137 — The long silence 137 — William Morris: final years 140 — Pilgrims and disciples 141 — 1900 142 — Legacy: tributes 143; Leo Tolstoy 143; Mahatma Gandhi 144; Marcel Proust 144 — Labour politics 145 — The Great Decline 145 — John Howard Whitehouse 146 — Revivals 147 WHAT NOW? 150 Brantwood 150 — Ruskin Museum 150 — Ruskin Library 150 — Ruskin Society 150 — The Guild of St George 151 — Ruskin Today 151 — Websites 151 RECOMMENDED READING 152 SOURCES 153 ILLUSTRATIONS 153 INDEX 155