Ruskin's Rose: A Venetian Love Story

by Mimma Balia, Ann Field

Venice can be a dangerous place for a man's emotions--particularly at Christmas, particularly if he's the grief-stricken art historian John Ruskin. In 1876, a year after the death of his clandestine love, Rose La Touche, Ruskin arrived in the city of canals and arched bridges. The author of such acclaimed books as Modern Painters and The Stones of Venice, Ruskin suddenly found himself adrift without his Rose. He'd seen his own youthful marriage scandalously annulled; he had lost his faith, his love, his fortune. It was time to heal. Ruskin's Rose tells the unforgettable story of Ruskin's relationship and of his time in Venice, when he rediscovered art through the paintings of fifteenth-century artist Vittore Carpaccio. Gorgeously illustrated with photographs of letters, maps, flowers, lockets, and other artifacts, this tale will stir the heart of every reader.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2000

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly engaging and poignant little book about the power of sorrow, love, longing, art, and religion to combine to inspire creativity (and flights of fancy). More specifically, it is the story of the British scholar and critic John Ruskin and his unrequited love of 17 years for an Irish lass named Rose La Touche, who died of meningitis at the age of twenty-seven (yes, that means Ruskin began to love her when she was a child, but you can indulge your curiosity about whether that makes him a pedophile in the nasty and criminal sense in any number of scholarly works on his life). Deprived of her company and any hope of union with and companionship of her, Ruskin takes his broken heart and spirit to Venice where his love of life, art, beauty, and Rose once flourished and has them at least partially restored to vitality by the work of Carpaccio. The book is very short and more suggestive than thorough, but if you are looking for a somewhat ethereal romance or are planning a trip to Venice, this is not a bad little side read.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another story set in Venice, full of deeply felt emotion and art history where Ruskin's story is personal, tragic and sentimental. Ruskin lives, breathes and walks through his losses and discovers new reasons to go on living.