Praeterita And Dilecta

Written in the 1880s, this autobiography of one of Britain's most famous art critics of the 19th century describes his upbringing in a respectable Victorian household, his Continental travels, his friends and relations and the development and refinement of his aesthetic tastes. An introduction by Kenneth Clark sets "Praeterita" in its proper context and draws attention to its particular merits. Also included in this work are Ruskin's supplement of letters, diary notes and extracts from literature, and a glossary identifying many of the people named in the book.

Ruskin was not merely the most important anglophone art critic and social commentator of the late nineteenth century: for his admirers - who included Proust - he was a Tolstoyan figure with the magic of an artist and the moral authority of a sage.To call Praeterita an autobiography is to tell only part of the truth. A book like no other, by oneof the greatest masters of English prose., it is less a narrative than the prismatic sotry of an extraordinary mind and a passionate heart told in terms of the author's aesthetic education. Ruskin was not merely the most important anglophone art critic and social commentator of the late nineteenth century: for his admirers - who included Proust - he was a Tolstoyan figure with the magic of an artist and the moral authority of a sage. Yet above all he was loved as a personality by friends and readers alilke, and it is the individual human qualitites which shine through the mercurial pages of Praeterita