John Ruskin | Autograph letter signed, about travelling in Italy, Brig o'Turk, Scotland, 26 July 1853

John Ruskin

Autograph letter signed, to "My dear Sir"

giving travel advice to one who has been ordered to a warmer climate for medical reasons, dismissing Australia ("...you would find no architecture to interest you...") and warning him that Italy is "all in all an execrable country for an invalid" but admitting that the climate has advantages ("...provided you do not allow yourself to be led away by temptation into the shady side of the street"..."), recommending instead that he remain in France until the weather turns, 4 pages, 8vo, "Bridge of Turk", 26 July [1853], creased

AN ECCENTRIC LETTER OF ADVICE WRITTEN AT A TURNING POINT IN RUSKIN'S LIFE. This letter was written just a week after Ruskin posed for his friend John Everett Millais by a stream in the Trossachs for the renowned portrait that is now at the Ashmolean in Oxford. It was during this holiday at Brig o'Turk that Millais and Ruskin's wife, Effie, fell in love, leading to the annulment of their marriage and Effie's subsequent (and happy) marriage to Millais.

PROVENANCE:

Bonhams, London, 27 March 2012, lot 75