Ruskin’s Portraits

Drawing on portraits of and by Ruskin, this research-led exhibition, in collaboration with Brantwood, will examine his critical view of portraiture. While he acknowledged the technical skill involved, he regarded it as an inferior genre compared to landscape and architectural painting.

Ruskin’s writings—for example, Modern Painters and The Elements of Drawing—evidence both his admiration and critique of portrait painting, depending on how it was practised. Ruskin admired the technical proficiency of artists such as Dürer, Holbein and Van Eyck, who portrayed their subjects with psychological truth and moral clarity.

Project leads: Professor Sandra Kemp, The Ruskin, and Howard Hull, Brantwood