University of Lancaster, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YB
In 2018, the Ruskin received unprecedented assistance
from FNL towards the acquisition of the pre-eminent Whitehouse Ruskin
Collection (see FNL Annual Report 2018). The current exhibition
Ruskin: Museum of the Near Future features
items from the collection.
The visit will start with lunch followed by a tour of the exhibition with the Director. We will then visit the stores to look at some more of the treasures of this extraordinary collection. The visit is timed to enable travel to Lancaster on an off peak train from London, and a return to London by early evening.
The Whitehouse Ruskin Collection is among the most comprehensive associated with any artist or writer in the world. This unparalleled gathering of materials relating to the Victorian polymath John Ruskin (1819–1900) and his circle, the Collection was formed by the educationalist and Liberal MP, John Howard Whitehouse (1873–1955).
The Collection includes 1,500 paintings and drawings, 500 prints and 125 daguerreotypes. In addition, the Collection holds 29 volumes of Ruskin’s diaries (1835–1888), and some 7,400 letters, which include both correspondence with family and friends, and with many leading political and cultural figures of the Victorian age. There are also 350 books from Ruskin’s own library, a complete holding of books about Ruskin, and an archive of transcripts, articles and cuttings. Few collections comprise such an immense store and variety of materials; few, furthermore, speak so directly to the concerns of the past and of our own time.
Limited to 15
places
