John Ruskin Summary

Ruskin, John(1819–1900) John Ruskin, the English critic of art and society, was born in London, the son of a wine merchant. He began writing while at Oxford and in 1843 published, in London, th... Read more

Biography EssayJohn Ruskin was the most influential art critic to write in England between the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1792 and the publications of Clive Bell and others around 1914. It is not... Read more

John Ruskin was the most influential art critic to write in England between the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1792 and the publications of Clive Bell and others around 1914. It is not, in fact, too ... Read more

John Ruskin attained his reputation as an art historian and architectural critic with the publication of three works: Modern Painters (1843-1860), The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), and The Stone... Read more

In the following essay, Ogden explores how John Ruskin helped to introduce elements of Orientalism into the Gothic Revival in Great Britain by shifting focus in his Stones of Venice from medieval Brit... Read more

In the following essay, Peltason examines Ruskin's last work, Praeterita, which he wrote after he had suffered several bouts of mental illness. Like the "Mutabilitie Cantos" or... Read more

In the following essay, Sawyer discusses Ruskin's view of girls and women in The Ethics of the Dust, "Of Queens' Gardens," and The Queen of the Air. To define Victorian ... Read more

In the following essay, Gombrich uses quotations and excerpts from Ruskin's The Seven Lamps of Architecture to argue for conserving buildings from earlier times. Be it heard or not, I must ... Read more

In the following essay, Shell explores Ruskin's belief that aesthetic taste is inseparable from political and economic realities. John Ruskin attempted to hold in a single vision the theoret... Read more

In the following essay, Hewison analyzes The Stones of Venice in terms of the politics, economics, and religious beliefs of the mid-1800s. The Stones of Venice is arguably Ruskin's most succ... Read more

In the following essay, Stein offers a critique of Ruskin's idealized view of nature and of rural life as expressed in The Poetry of Architecture. Ruskin teaches us how to see, Charlotte Bro... Read more

In the following essay, Birch argues that while Ruskin's work has enraged feminists, his thinking was often "Womanly" and not antagonistic to some of the tenets of modern feminism... Read more

In the following excerpt, Wellek describes John Ruskin's literary criticism, which is based on his aesthetic theories on modern painting. John Ruskin (1819-1900) Ruskin seems hardly to belon... Read more