The Stones of Venice: Lady Augusta Gregory and John Ruskin
abstract
Lady Augusta Gregory was among those Victorian Anglo-Irish genteel women who were deeply influenced by Ruskin’s views on the political and artistic history of Venice. She stayed at Ca’ Cappello during he visits to Venice, Sir Austen Henry Layard and Lady Enid Layard’s beautiful palace on the Grand Canal. She often walked the streets of the Mediterranean city in search of architectural details that Ruskin mentioned in The Stones of Venice. The chapter considers the significance of these Ruskin-inspired sojourns on the formation of Lady Gregory’s aesthetic sensibilities at the turn of the twentieth century and reveals the true subject matter of one of her Venetian sketches, now held at the National Library of Ireland.
Keywords: Lady Layard • Ruskin • Sketching • Travel writing • Lady Gregory