Editing John Ruskin (section)

===Rose La Touche===
[[File:Portrait of Rose La Touche 1861 2.jpg|thumb|''Rose La Touche'', as sketched by Ruskin]]
Ruskin had been introduced to the wealthy Irish La Touche family by [[Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford]]. Maria La Touche, a minor Irish poet and novelist, asked Ruskin to teach her daughters drawing and painting in 1858. [[Rose La Touche]] was ten. His first meeting came at a time when Ruskin's own religious faith was under strain. This always caused difficulties for the staunchly Protestant La Touche family who at various times prevented the two from meeting.<ref>Robert Dunlop, ''Plantation of Renown: The Story of the La Touche Family of Harristown and the Baptist Church at Brannockstown in Co. Kildare'' [1970]. Revised and enlarged edition, 1982; "Ruskin's "Wild Rose of Kildare", pp. 29–41.</ref> A chance meeting at the [[Royal Academy]] in 1869 was one of the few occasions they came into personal contact. After a long illness, she died on 25 May 1875, at the age of 27. These events plunged Ruskin into despair and led to increasingly severe bouts of mental illness involving breakdowns and delirious visions. The first of these had occurred in 1871 at [[Matlock, Derbyshire]], a town and a county that he knew from his boyhood travels, whose flora, fauna, and minerals helped to form and reinforce his appreciation and understanding of nature.

Ruskin turned to [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]]. He attended [[séance]]s at [[Broadlands]]. Ruskin's increasing need to believe in a meaningful universe and a [[life after death]], both for himself and his loved ones, helped to revive his Christian faith in the 1870s.{{fact|date=March 2025}}