Valley of Flowers, Nanda Devi National Park in Uttarakhand, India. Photograph by Arjun Jain.

The Two Boyhoods

Reading: Modern Painters V, § 1-9 and 19 (LE 7: 374-380 and 388)

Ruskin’s chapter contrasts the ‘ideal’ boyhood of Giorgione in Venice with the ‘real’ boyhood of Turner in London. This talk will move from the ‘religion’ of Turner’s city to that of the speaker’s city in modern India. It will pose the question as to what we really want as far as climate change and sustainability go and why exactly we want them.

ARJUN JAIN, Companion, Young Companions' Representative to the Guild Board.

Second reader: GINEVRA LO SCIUTO, restorer and art historian from Sicily.

Introduced by Mark Cleaver, Guild Director

5.30-6.30pm UK time - BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET FOR THIS ONE HOUR ONLINE EVENT, VIA EVENTBRITE, HERE

This is the second of four monthly readings from Ruskin’s writings about Venice, being offered online between December 2021 and March 2022, culminating in a one-day public online conference on 2 April 2022, rooted in the knowledge and passion of a group of Companions concerned about the diverse challenges facing Venice which all arguably arise from confusing ‘illth’ with ‘wealth’.

Venice is wealthy in so many ways – the diversity of its inhabitants, its architectural and artistic treasures, its gardens and its food culture, its location in the precious ecosystem of the lagoon, its strong craft traditions – yet many pressures combine to make the lives of the resident community difficult to sustain and moreover put the cultural and social heritage of Venice at risk.

A new kind of thoughtful tourism (such as Ruskin himself practised) is needed – gentle, slow and sustainable. A new kind of economic system is also needed, one that respects the fact that Venice is a living community rather than a stage set for visitors; and one that resets the damaging over-exploitation of the earth’s resources and provides for a more sustainable future for the city and the Venetian Lagoon.