Private School News

Former BMS pupil, Professor Stephen Wildman talks at Ruskin Society

Professor Stephen Wildman, OBM 1960-69, Director of the Ruskin Library and Research Centre at Lancaster University, was the guest speaker at the Ruskin Society’s Birthday Dinner at The Athenaeum in London on Monday 8th February.

Stephen’s talk, entitled Black Wind and White Fire: Ruskin’s visit to Sicily in 1874, was illustrated with letters and drawings by Ruskin and others, as well as photos taken by Stephen in Sicily last September.

Sicily was the furthest place ever visited by the great art critic, John Ruskin (1819-1900), who was born on 8th February, although he saw only Palermo, Monreale and Taormina in the north and east of the island. He was invited to Palermo by the family of Sir Henry Yule, a retired army officer and colonial administrator, whose vivacious daughter Amy, 33 years Ruskin’s junior, not only acted as Ruskin’s guide but corresponded with him and wrote about their friendship after his death in long footnotes in books about her father. At the time Ruskin was hoping to marry the ailing Rose La Touche, but, as Stephen was able to show in his talk, there is evidence that strong mutual affection may have existed between Ruskin and his “little Sicilian witch” (as he called her in other letters).

Only fragments of Amy’s and Ruskin’s correspondence have survived, but from these and other sources Stephen has reconstructed their friendship, focused on the 1874 visit, during which Ruskin commented on a “black wind” from the north, and observed the “white fire” of the volcano Mount Etna. He made drawings of the tomb of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II in Palermo Cathedral, with its fusion of Classical and Gothic styles, and admired the Byzantine mosaics of Monreale.

Amy, who never married, eventually moved to Scotland and became a supporter of the revival of Gaelic, prior to her death in 1916. So far no photograph or other picture of her has come to light.

Professor Stephen Wildman is the brother of Richard Wildman OBM, Bedford Modern School Archivist and OBM Club Secretary. The BMS archives include records of the School’s pupils and history, including over 2,000 photographs since about 1860. It is Richard’s task to sequence, conserve and interpret the material – a mine of historical information – to current staff and students, as well as to OBM’s and their descendants.

Notes: OBM = Old Bedford Modernian

Photo: Former Bedford Modern School pupil, Professor Stephen Wildman