John Ruskin and Switzerland

Terrence Paris is Public Services Librarian at Mount St. Vincent
University in Halifax.

John Ruskin began his lifelong love of Switzerland at age 14, when he
accompanied his family on an extensive continental tour. In his 1833
diary, he recorded impressions of the Canton of Berne: “This is,
indeed, a country for which a man might sigh, and almost die, of regret,
to be exiled from.” In 1856 he outlined a plan for a history of
Switzerland, illustrated with engravings of his drawings. These
drawings—in pen and pencil and watercolor—constitute the main
subject of Hayman’s study of Ruskin and Switzerland. He includes more
than 100 black-and-white plates, each with commentary—not only about
Ruskin’s work, but also about the work of artists who interpreted the
same landscapes or townscape, and who may be identified as influences.
The most noteworthy of these is J.M.W. Turner. Ruskin contrasted his own
pure topography, which attempted to reflect a place as in a mirror, with
Turner’s imaginative topography: “And to see the way the fellow
picks out the plums!—the beautiful way he knows what’s good for him,
and brings out glories by the most insignificant changes.” To Ruskin,
Turner’s ability to accentuate an impression derived from existing
aspects was the mark of true artistic greatness.

A few of Ruskin’s Swiss drawings were published as illustrations to
Modern Painters V; many of the originals passed to different collectors.
Professor Hayman has made a worthy contribution to Ruskin studies, while
also contributing to Ruskin’s vision of a pictorial homage to the
Swiss contribution to European civilization.

This handsome book should appeal to anyone interested in Ruskin, either
as a writer or as a visual artist.