After the breakdown of his marriage Ruskin fell in love with the 11-year-old, Rose La Touche, whom he always described as the love of his life.
She "walked like a little white statue through the twilight woods, talking solemnly" he wrote about her when they first met, while she nicknamed him St Crumpet.
She "walked like a little white statue through the twilight woods, talking solemnly" he wrote about her when they first met, while she nicknamed him St Crumpet.
Their relationship later became the basis of TheLeedsArcadesProjects favourite book; Nabokov's Lolita. Lolita tells the story of an aging University employee who falls in love (lust?) with a girl much, much younger than him. The relationship is not easy and he tries to keep her happy by showering her with gifts and driving her around the country. Finally, inevitably, it all falls apart.
In 1865 when she was 17 Ruskin finally proposed to Rose, but she turned him down. She died ten years later in a Dublin nursing home suffering from anorexia, a broken heart and religious mania.
In 1865 when she was 17 Ruskin finally proposed to Rose, but she turned him down. She died ten years later in a Dublin nursing home suffering from anorexia, a broken heart and religious mania.
After this Ruskin took refuge in spiritualism and later he too also suffered a mental breakdown.
