INTRODUCTION xlvii

Ruskin’s will (dated October 23, 1883) showed the affection which he had for his home at Coniston. It says:-

“I leave all my estate of Brantwood aforesaid and all other real estate of which I may die possessed to Joseph Arthur Palliser Severn, and Joanna Ruskin Severn, his wife, and to the survivor of them and their heirs for their very own, earnestly praying them never to sell the estate of Brantwood or any part thereof, nor to let upon building lease any part thereof, but to maintain the said estate and the buildings thereon in decent order and in good repair in like manner as I have done, and praying them further to accord during thirty consecutive days in every year such permission to strangers to see the house and pictures as I have done in my lifetime.”

In 1885 Ruskin made over Brantwood to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Severn by deed of gift, confirming this settlement by a codicil of the same date. The formation of a fund for the maintenance of the estate was made a first charge upon the profits derived from his copyrights. He appointed Mrs. Severn, Professor Norton, and Mr. Wedderburn his literary executors. In the original will his pictures were bequeathed to Oxford, but this bequest was, as already stated,¹ revoked in 1884.

The memorial stone, placed in the following year at the head of the grave, is a monolith of hard green stone of the neighbourhood, supplied from the Mossrigg quarries of Tilberthwaite, suggestive of an Iona cross, and carved by Mr. H. T. Miles of Ulverston, from Mr. Collingwood’s design, with symbols of Ruskin’s life and work. The side looking eastward and facing the grave has at the base a laurel-crowned figure with a lyre, typical of his early Poems and The Poetry of Architecture. Above is the inscription, “John Ruskin, 1819-1900,” surrounded by interlaced work. On the middle space of this face of the stone is the seated figure of an artist sketching; in the background are pines, and the outline of Mont Blanc, and the rays of the rising sun; this last symbol repeating the device which Ruskin placed on the cover of Modern Painters.² Symbols of two more of his books occupy the remaining space; one, the winged lion of St. Mark, recalling The Stones of Venice; the other, the seven-branched candlestick of the Tabernacle, representing The Seven Lamps of Architecture. The west side of the shaft, looking towards Coniston Old Man, symbolises Ruskin’s social and ethical work. Three figures at

¹ Vol. XXXIII. p. lvii.

² See Vol. III. p. lvii.

[Version 0.04: March 2008]