One Phase in Victorian Museum Culture: John Ruskin\u27s Saint George\u27s Museum (2)

Although the successive establishment of museums in the Victorian era should lead us to believe that it was realized by the central government or provincial governments according to their own cultural policies, the reality was far from that. In England, people hardly perceived the idea of a public museum serving as the cultural symbol of a nation or regional community, which might have been chiefly because of the political situation there. Without experiencing any serious political upheaval such as the French Revolution, they did not think it necessary to have such a cultural device as the Louvre in order to show their political power or to encourage civic pride. Due to this lack of governmental support for cultural institutions， individuals and private organizations helped to provide such artistic spaces to the public. For instance, several noblemen opened their private house and collections regularly to the public, which functioned almost the same as museums. Such a complementary relationship between the private and the public could be seen in the public museums as well, many of which were established in industrial cities during the latter half of the Victorian era. A large part of their collection was formed through a donation or bequest from wealthy middle-class people who wanted to prove their cultural identity and contribute to urban cultural improvement. The Saint George’s Museum, which was inaugurated publicly in Sheffield, another industrial city, utilizing Ruskin’s own private money and collection, is hardly an exception. There we can expect to see how Ruskin’s notions of the museum and its audience were actually put into practice. (Continued to Part Three