#a lot of his fans hate Effie Gray and it's like. you can admire someone's writing and still acknowledge that they were...pretty skeevy

[marzipanandminutiae]

holy shit, John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a creep

guy meets Effie Gray when she's 12 and he's 21, stays in continuous contact with her, then marries her when she's 19. refuses to consummate the marriage- despite writing a letter about his eagerness for the wedding-night undressing -because some unspecified aspect of her body disgusts him, and it's annulled several years later, at which point she marries artist John Everett Millais (who has no such hangups- they go on to have eight children)

then he meets Rose la Touche when he is hired as her art tutor at age 39 and she is 10. remains close with her, writes paens of praise to her childish beauty...and then tries to marry her when she's 18. thankfully her parents reach out to Gray- you know, the woman who very publicly did not want to stay married to him -to ask what he was like as a husband. she reports that he's "oppressive" and they forbid the match. he later asks for Rose's hand AGAIN when she's 21 and therefore of legal age, and she still refuses him

years LATER he claims that Rose's spirit is telling him to marry a girl who's visiting his family. I don't know the age of this girl, but given that at least one commentator described her using that term- girl -I'm not optimistic

he also asked illustrator Kate Greenaway to draw naked little girls for him, so. there's that, in the context of his other behavior

people gloss over this to a disturbing degree because they value his work, it seems like, based on my brief research

(I've genuinely seen someone say "but he didn't try to court Rose la Touche formally until she was 18!!!" DUDE. he still spent ALL OF THE INTERVENING YEARS CLOSE WITH HER and then PROPOSED THE SECOND IT WAS SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE. that is NOT ANY LESS CREEPY!)

("he just admired children's innocence and beauty!" okay, yes, that would be innocuous enough out of context...but it does not lead you to attempt to marry the object of your admiration, though, usually? if you're not a Total Creep?)