Ruskin, John, 1819–1900, Letter to Thomas Goff Lupton, 1856 December 4
- Call Number:
- MSS 5
- Holdings:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
- Creator:
- Ruskin, John, 1819–1900
- Title(s):
- Letter to Thomas Goff Lupton
- Date:
- 1856 December 4
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: Dated letters
- Part of Collection:
- 1, folder 35
- Provenance:
- Paul Mellon Collection.
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Copyright UndeterminedThe collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Archives Department.
- Scope and Content:
- This letter is addressed from Denmark Hill and sent to Lupton at Russell Square. It conveys an unusual, emotionally frank and open, message. Ruskin writes that he is sorry that Lupton has taken any trouble over their work at present. Lupton's wife Susannah died in 1856, and Ruskin attempts to offer his condolences, although he says that he did not write previously. Ruskin remarks that he is "the worst of all people to find comfort for others in any distress of this kind--for I never can find any, myself: In any loss of love I have had to sustain through life nothing but time, & labour, ever relieved me. I cannot look forward as many people do to another state. The next world is inconceivable to me and the darkness closes on me irrevocably. There are few--very few people, not among my own near relations, for whom I have more regard than for you--and indeed I have been deeply grieved to think that your cheerful & kindly face should never be touched with the same smile again--and that I had no power of helping you in any way. I am so accustomed, now, to feel the world getting emptier & gloomier about me--Turner's death, for one thing--having at once extinguished my fairest sunshine--& many other things happening one after another to depress me that I only keep up to the level of any daily work <emph render="underline">by</emph> daily work; & am a good deal harder & colder than I ought to be, at my age, & with what of natural sensibility I had once...but I still <emph render="underline">can</emph> feel for <emph render="underline">you</emph> and I hope you will believe that as far as my sympathy can be any good to you you may trust to it." Ruskin goes on to invite Lupton to see him when he is ready, and to "breathe the frosty air of the fields." He also conveys his regards to Lupton's son, Nevil.
- Physical Description:
- 4 p. (1 folded leaf) ; 18 x 23 cm. + envelope. Written in pen and brown ink.
- Genre:
- Correspondence and Letters
- Subject Terms:
- ArtistsEngraversEngravingEtchersEtchingIllustration of booksMezzotint engraving
- Subject Period:
- 19th century
- Associated Places:
- Great Britain
- Associated People/Groups:
- Boys, Thomas Shotter, 1803-1874Gambart, Ernest, 1814-1902Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 1786-1846Lupton, Nevil Oliver, ca. 1830-1915Lupton, Thomas Goff, 1791-1873Lupton, Thomas, 1821-1910Ruskin, John, 1819-1900Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851
- Finding Aid Title:
- John Ruskin: Letters to Thomas Goff Lupton
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/22.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3221
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3221?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1