Claro Investigates Why Ruskin Claimed to Have Burned Turner's Work
In a new book mixing biography and essay, the French writer and translator Claro examines why critic John Ruskin boasted of destroying paintings by William Turner.
The book, "Le Feu aux nues. Fallait-il brûler William Turner ?", is reviewed this week by Télérama, which calls it a fascinating inquiry straddling biography and art essay.
Its subject is a puzzle from the late nineteenth century: why did the British art critic John Ruskin claim to have destroyed works by the painter William Turner? According to Télérama's summary, the author and translator Claro sets out to explain the gesture, weighing puritanism, fascination and possible madness, by tracing the intertwined destinies of the two men.
No further detail on the book's structure, length or publisher is given in the source material.
Sources
This article was written from these reports.
