Brantwood: View over Coniston Water.
Keith Hanley explains that Ruskin had first visited Coniston with his parents in 1824, when he was only five years old, and had made a drawing of the lakeside opposite the house in 1837, on one of his later visits. When he was ill in 1871, the lake became "a therapeutic symbol in his fevered state," so that when he bought Brantwood and set up house there, "he was turning back to the Romantic north of his early imagination" (26). To him, this was the "on the whole, the finest view I know in Cumberland or Lancashire" (qtd. in Hanley 26). He was to spend the last 28 years of his life here.
Photograph (2019) by Simon Cooke, commentary and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL, or cite the Victorian Web in a print document. [Click on the image to enlarge it].
Related Material
- Brantwood (watercolor by A. Macdonald, 1880)
- Brantwood (Victorian postcard)
- Brantwood in early Spring
- Brantwood on a cloudy day
- View from the lodge towards the main house
- Early daffodils in the gardens at Brantwood
- View from the Painters Glade in early spring
- The gardens at Brantwood
- View from Brantwood on a cloudy day, Lake Coniston (the Lake District)
- Trees near Lake Coniston in winter
- Ruskin's Bedroom at Brantwood
- The study at Brantwood
Bibliography
Hanley, Keith. "Edinburgh — London — Oxford — Coniston." Cambridge Companion to John Ruskin. Ed. Francis O'Gorman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 17-31.
John Ruskin's Home: Brantwood. Web. 3 September 2019.
Created 3 September 2019