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...
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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...
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The English critic and social theorist John Ruskin (1819-1900) more than any other man shaped the esthetic values and tastes of Victorian England. His writings combine enormous sensitivity and human c...
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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 ...
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During his prolific career John Ruskin wrote many more works for adults than those especially for young people. He is, however, well known in the field of children's literature because of his literary...
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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...
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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...
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In the following essay, Williamson examines Ruskin's conflicted relationship to the social and artistic status quo of Victorian England.
Described as 'the most eloquent and original of a...
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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 th...
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In the following essay, Dellamora explores Ruskin's changing views of sexuality as reflected in his writings about art history.
Thus far I have said little about John Ruskin, England's l...
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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 non...
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In the following essay, Emerson examines how order and chaos function in Ruskin's theories of artistic composition and in his autobiographical writings.
Ruskin's relentless discriminatio...
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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 not...
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In the following excerpt, Hanson examines Ruskin's idealized version of his own childhood from the perspective of a God who is capable of condemning as well as blessing.
I
In his childhood conc...
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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 theoretica...
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In the following essay, Hunt examines Ruskin's tendency to footnote, cross-reference, and recast aspects of his own work.
My theme is simply how we should read Ruskin. There is, first of all, t...
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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 success...
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In the following essay, Townsend discusses the inspiration for and logical inconsistencies in Ruskin's work, particularly Time and Tide.
I first made the acquaintance of John Ruskin in January,...
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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 Bronte...
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In the following essay, Hecht explores the meaning of "pathetic fallacy," a term coined by Ruskin.
Un paysage quelconque est un etat de l'ame.
—Henri-Frederic Amiel
The wor...
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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...
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In the following essay, Maidment suggests that Ruskin's importance lies in how his ideas have been understood, as well as in his large—but largely unread—oeuvre.
Reading books abo...
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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 belong t...
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John Ruskin argues that, contrary to the efforts of many philosophers, "a peacable and rational person, whose trade is buying and selling, should be held in less honour than an impeaceable and often i...
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