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.