Portrait of the artist

Millais was a rising star of the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, whereas Ruskin – while no mean painter himself – felt his talents lay in identifying and revealing the greatness of others, and Millais was his latest protégé.

The pair – who at this time were friends – carefully chose a spot in Glen Finglas near Brig o’ Turk in the Trossachs for the painting, which Ruskin described as “a lovely piece of worn rock, with foaming water and weeds…” Ruskin was to stand looking contemplatively down the swirling and tumbling burn, whilst Millais’ skilled brush strokes would capture both the spirit of the man and the drama of the surrounding wildness.

However, Ruskin continually criticised the progress of Millais’ endeavours over the months that followed, resulting in the painting having to be repeatedly altered. It must have been an incredibly difficult period for Millais, but from such frustration he soon found solace in the shape of Ruskin’s attractive wife Effie Gray, which resulted in an affair that would eventually lead to marriage. Ruskin appeared largely indifferent to the dalliance – he and Effie hadn’t even consummated their marriage – although their subsequent divorce caused much scandal at the time.

The painting today has huge resonance in the art world, vividly portraying the character of one of the Victorian era’s most influential thinkers and which also has indelibly embossed upon it a most remarkable love story. The exact spot of the painting had for many years been lost, but was rediscovered by Alastair Grieve in 1993, and now Woodland Trust Scotland (WTS), who own and manage Glen Finglas, has recognised the importance of the site by creating a small trail which takes visitors to a vantage point overlooking the tumbling rapids of the Finglas Water where Ruskin and Millais stood.

Borders-based moving-image artist Richard Ashrowan, who has intensively studied Ruskin, is clearly enthused by the importance of the site to Scotland’s cultural history.

“Ruskin was incredibly famous at the time and when he was at Glen Finglas, he was also preparing for his Edinburgh lectures that would attract thousands, and which often resulted in people fainting due to the excitement of the occasion,” he says. “It is a wonderful painting that tells an incredible story. It is one of the first and certainly most important works of pre-Raphaelite landscape painting.”

In reality, the site of Ruskin’s portrait is just one small microcosm of the huge cultural significance of the Glen Finglas area. It is a hauntingly picturesque landscape, which also comprises Glen Meann and Glen Casaig. The area’s location, close to the ancient centres of power at Stirling and Doune, meant that from the early 1300s until the 1700s it was a Royal hunting forest popular with Scottish kings.

One unusual feature of the glen is the nationally scarce upland habitat known as “wood pasture” – land that has been managed with grazing animals for many centuries and characterised by clearings, widely spaced trees and patches of forest. Some of the trees here are hundreds of years old and the resultant open habitat is a haven for wildlife.

Tabby Lamont, WTS estate manager at Glen Finglas, says: “There is still some debate amongst experts about how the land would have exactly looked in the past, but our ongoing strategy is to restore the ancient woodland through tree planting and careful management, including controlled grazing.”

Of course, all this leaves one burning question; was Ruskin happy with Millais’ final portraiture? Yes and no it would seem. Ruskin conceded there was no doubting the “wonderment” of the work, although he thought a better job could have been done with the right eye, which “had the effect of making me slightly squint.” He was indeed a hard man to please.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk