‘If I were asked to lay my finger, in a map of the world, on the spot of the world’s surface which contained at this moment the most singular concentration of art-teaching and art-treasure, I should lay it on the name of the town of Verona.’
John Ruskin, A Joy for Ever, Lecture 2 (1857)
John Ruskin felt a strong and particular affection for the city of Verona, which he visited whenever his travels took him to the Veneto. In 1872, Ruskin visited Verona with Albert Goodwin, staying in the city from the 15th to 21st June. Goodwin made a number of drawings of the city and surroundings, while Ruskin prepared a pamphlet for the Arundel Society on the Cavalli tombs in Santa Anastasia.
John Ruskin considered Verona to contain the most perfect examples of twelfth century Lombardic architecture, as well as some of the finest examples of thirteenth and fourteenth century Gothic architecture.
As teacher and draughtsman, Ruskin returned frequently to monuments and buildings such as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Matricolare, the Gothic churches of Sant’Anastasia, San Fermo and San Zeno, and as in the present drawing, the Arche Scaligere.
The Arche Scagliere is a group of five funerary monuments celebrating the Scaliger family, that ruled Verona from the thirteenth to early fourteenth century. The tombs are located in a courtyard outside the church of Santa Maria Antica. The present drawing is
of the tomb of Cansignorio della Scala, built in 1375 and the most richly decorated of the tombs.
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