3-034-830 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. John Ruskin, 1871. Engraving from a photograph by Messrs. W. and D. Downey. 'The election of Mr. Ruskin to be Lord Rector of St. Andrew's University is an occasion upon which it seems fit to publish his portrait. His recent act of munificence, too, in giving £5000 for the endowment of a teacher of drawing at the University of Oxford, commends him afresh to public esteem. But he has been known more than a quarter of a century, to all who take any interest in literature or in the fine arts, as one of the great English writers of this age, and as the expounder of views in art-criticism which have claimed a large share of attention. He has latterly come forward also in the character of a social reformer, discussing the most urgent problems of industrial economy and commercial morality...He is a high-minded, benevolent, earnest, and accomplished man, who strives to do good, to know and speak the truth, to cultivate the perception of beauty, for the glory of the Creator and for the happiness of mankind. As one who has diligently sought, all his life long, the best lore of Nature and Humanity, his career is an example to the scholar, perhaps even more valuable than his express communications as a teacher'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.