This fifteen-page graduate-level academic research paper analyzes the relationship
Of English Romantic painter Benjamin Robert Haydon to the art of the 19th century and evaluates his influence on John Ruskin’s social concepts of art during the same era.
Analysis of His Influence on John Ruskin’s Social Concepts of Art
Analysis of His Influence on John Ruskin’s Social Concepts of Art
Evaluating an artist’s influence on his contemporaries, the era in which he lived and posterity, it is first of all important to examine and understand what influences were brought to bear upon him. This is particularly true in his formative years, for they provide the foundation of his philosophy as well as playing a major role in the development of his talent. In this context, it is useful to examine the social and cultural environment of an artist’s formative years, as well as the circumstances of family and education that shape him. Benjamin Robert Haydon, painter and diarist, lived a life of drama, frustration and opposition to the establishment. Constantly fighting for recognition and arguing for the social purpose of art, Haydon’s talents fell far short of his ambitions. As Haydon wrote: “The great difficulty is first to win a reputation; the next to keep it while you live; and the next to preserve it after you die – when affection and interest are over, and nothing but the sterling excellence can preserve your name” (Immortal 1). It is a “great difficulty” that eluded the romanticist Haydon despite a lifetime of trying. While Haydon enjoyed friendships with some of the most influential artists and poets of his time, including William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, he was savaged by critics and remained a genius only in his own eyes.
Benjamin Robert Haydon was born in Plymouth, England on January 26, 1786. As the only son of a prosperous printer and publisher, Haydon benefited fro...