John Ruskin

This is another of the locals in the vicinity of where I work. There are a number of literary streets in Addington and I discovered today most of them have a statue of the writer they're named after. Perfect :-)

"Ruskin Street, Addington, was renamed in the 1880s and its statue and landscaped gardens were added in 2006.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was known in Victorian times as a writer, philosopher and arbiter of taste. He was the son of a well-to-do Scottish wine merchant who lived in London.

Ruskin was educated at home before spending five years at Oxford University. However, ill-health prevented him from sitting for an honours degree. Ruskin‘s taste was strongly influenced by the English Romanic painters including Constable and Turner, and he supported the Pre-Raphaelites who looked to Medieval Times for their inspiration in art.

He travelled extensively and in 1843 published Modern Painters, a five-volume work which took him 17 years to complete. He then turned his attention to architecture, in 1849 publishing The Seven Lamps of Architecture in three volumes and then The Stones of Venice, also in three volumes (1851-1853), which celebrated the Italian Gothic style.

Ruskin was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art at the university in 1870 and today a prestigious School of Art in Oxford bears his name.

In 2006, the Christchurch City Council commissioned the sculptor, Chris Reddington, to produce the statue that stands in a pleasant garden area bordering Ruskin Street today. Its aim was to “restore confidence of private owners in their neighbourhood”.

Given that Ruskin was very much in favour of the conservation, we may perhaps wonder what he would think of the present-day destruction of Christchurch’s heritage buildings".

D Darnell, Addington Times, August 2014

I dropped my car late today for a service tomorrow, and ran home. The wind was frigid. Dinner, sorting out paying my excess to EQC, and helping Dad with a couple of things via email.

I'm about done in but I think I've forgotten to do my dishes. Bugger.