John Ruskin 1819-1900

We are grateful to Paul Walton who suggests a date of 1854 for the present work when Ruskin was in the Chamonix area for two and a half months drawing mountain scenery in preparation for volumes IV and V of Modern Painters. This was a difficult time for Ruskin. His wife, Effie, left him in April of that year and the marriage was annulled in July. Before his marital difficulties, Ruskin had already decided to visit Switzerland again and he left England as planned in May, in the company of his parents rather than his wife, returning again at the end of September