Ruskin (John 1819-1900).  A very good autograph letter signe...

Hammer

€1,100

Ruskin (John 1819-1900).  A very good autograph letter signed to ‘Dear Mrs. Marshall’, on his headed paper, from Brantwood, Coniston, dated 2nd March [18]73, 4 pp (single folded sheet), in his small tidy hand, with a typed transcript.
 ‘This is the first mild day of March .. the air was infinitely sweet this afternoon by the shore  -  Snow all gone. Just before it fell, I took a walk to the top of the rocks on the west of your tarn .. I maintain  this view from your crags to be the finest mountain panorama in the lakes .. I am going to Oxford for three weeks only, to give three lectures on Robin, Swallow and Chough as subjects of fine art .. Your carefully directed parcel of books came just when and where it ought ..’

A long, warm, chatty letter to a neighbour, showing his interest in and response to his natural environment, signed ‘faithfully & gratefully yours’. The recipient, Mrs. [Mary] Marshall, nee Mary Spring Rice, was a maid of honour to Queen Victoria; her father was then Chancellor of the Exchequer.
With this item is offered a framed watercolour drawing by Ruskin of a botanical specimen, signed indistinctly lower right, circa 7 ins x 5 ins, with label to rear inscribed ‘Painted by John Ruskin for Nelly O’Brien when she was a child & was his pupil, & given by Margaret O’Brien to Edith Wilkinson Xmas 1925. After my death I wish it to be given to Elinor O’Brien.’
The O’Briens mentioned are from the Cahirmoyle family (of William Smith O’Brien).  The ancestry is complicated, but Nelly O’Brien was a niece of Charlotte Grace O’Brien, daughter of WSOB. Margaret O’Brien was Nelly’s half-sister. Mary Spring Rice (daughter of Baron Monteagle) married James Garth Marshall of Yorkshire. Other Marshall family correspondence with Ruskin,Tennyson and others is apparently in Leeds University library.

Ruskin was a writer, artist and social reformer, one of the most influential cultural figures of the Victorian age, particularly in relation to architecture. (2)