INTRODUCTION TO VOL. XXIV

THIS is a North Italian volume, bringing together various writings upon Padua, Verona, and Venice. They belong for the most part to Ruskin’s later period, and the volume comes in its chronological order, except that the first of the books here collected is of a much earlier date. It has been reserved for this place, partly because its inclusion in an earlier volume in its chronological place would have been difficult, and partly because the presentation in a single volume of Ruskin’s shorter North Italian pieces is in itself convenient. The pieces thus collected are: I. Giotto and his Works in Padua, being Ruskin’s descriptions of the frescoes in the Arena Chapel, to accompany the Arundel Society’s series of woodcuts, together with an introductory essay on Giotto. The essay was written and published in 1853; the descriptions were published at various dates between 1853 and 1860. II. An essay on The Cavalli Monuments in the Church of St. Anastasia, Verona. This was written in 1872, to accompany a chromo-lithograph issued by the Arundel Society. III. The Guide to the Principal Pictures at the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice (1877). This was written during Ruskin’s sojourn at Venice in 1876-1877. IV. St. Mark’s Rest, for the most part written at the same time. V. A letter, and a circular, occasioned by the restorations of St. Mark’s, Venice (1877-1880). In an Appendix some passages are added which Ruskin wrote, and in part had put into type, for an intended continuation of St. Mark’s Rest.

In this Introduction, account is subsequently given of these various writings, but first the story of the author’s life is continued from the preceding volume, where it stopped at the end of 1874, down to the time of his return from Venice in 1877.

1875-1876

At the period of Ruskin’s work to which we have now to turn, the reader will be struck by two characteristics. The work is broken, scattered, incomplete, and the tone of the author’s mind becomes increasingly marked by irritability. The old energy remains, but, though

xix

[Version 0.04: March 2008]