Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

John Ruskin and Wild Flora – The Lancaster Drawings and Brantwood Gardens

A lecture by Professor David Ingram, OBE, VMH, FRSE, Honorary Professor, Edinburgh & Lancaster Universities

John Ruskin, the great 19th century polymath, had a profound influence on many aspects of British cultural life, including botanical drawing and the art of garden making. It is Ruskin’s interpretation of ‘wildness’ in both plants and gardens that as a botanist I shall explore in my image-based talk. First I shall discuss the concepts of ‘seeing by drawing’ and ‘wildness’ in plants, by reference to the little-known plant drawings in the collection of the Ruskin Library of Lancaster University. This will lead on to my recent studies of Ruskin’s interpretation of ‘wildness’ through garden making. I shall first describe and discuss the restored ‘wild gardens’ of both Ruskin and his cousin, Joan Severn, at Brantwood, Ruskin’s home in the English Lake District from 1872 – 1900. I shall then end by commenting on the significance of their correspondence with William Robinson, the celebrated 19^th century wild garden maker.

Professor David Ingram