”She enclosed & decorated this hall on the advice of John Ruskin”: Pauline, Lady Trevelyan and the creation of Wallington Hall’s Central Hall’

• Main Author: Lucy West
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Art History, University of Birmingham 2020-06-01
• Series: Journal of Art Historiography
• Subjects: ruskin; trevelyan; country house; interior; architecture; northumberland; wall painting
• Online Access: https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/west.pdf

This article examines John Ruskin’s role in the enclosure and decoration of the Central Hall at Wallington, Northumberland, a project set in motion from 1852 by Lady Pauline Jermyn Trevelyan, artist, intellect, and patron of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. It challenges the frequent limitation of Ruskin’s involvement, through examining the project’s wider context. Originally intended itself as a private museum, the Hall was developed during a rich period which witnessed the linked genesis of the Oxford Museum, along with the publication of some of Ruskin’s key works, read and reviewed by Lady Trevelyan. The three principles upon which Ruskin believed the Oxford Museum should be built, published in 1859, are employed as a lens through which to compare Lady Trevelyan’s Central Hall. Finally, the Wallington project is interrogated in relation to Ruskin’s views on art education, particularly considering the opportunities it provided for female practitioners.