John Ruskin: Writer, Critic, Artist & Philosopher

Christ Church College at Oxford, MA degree, 1843

John Ruskin traveled to France and Italy, where he sketched the romantic beauty of medieval architecture and sculpture. His 1849 book The Seven Lamps of Architecture (compare prices) awakened interest in medieval Gothic architecture. John Ruskin later traveled to Venice and wrote about the rise and fall of spiritual forces as reflected through changing architectural styles. In 1851 Ruskin's observations were published in The Stones of Venice (compare prices).

John Ruskin was a writer, critic, scientist, poet, artist, environmentalist, and philosopher. As the most important art critic of the Victorian era, Ruskin gained respectability for the Pre-Raphaelites, who rejected the classical approach to art and believed that paintings must be done from direct observation of nature. Through his writings, Ruskin rescued the Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner from obscurity.

John Ruskin rebelled against formal, classical art and architecture. Ruskin championed the asymmetrical, rough architecture of medieval Europe. Ruskin's work heralded the Gothic Revival movement in Britain and paved the way for the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain and the United States. Like William Morris and other Arts & Crafts philosophers, John Ruskin opposed industrialization and rejected the use of machine-made materials.

One of Ruskin's chief interests was the construction of the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Ruskin worked with the support of his old friend, Sir Henry Acland, then Regius Professor of Medicine, to bring his vision of Gothic beauty to this building. The Oxford Museum of Natural History remains one of the finest example of Victorian Gothic Revival (or Neo-Gothic) style in Britain.

• Gothic Revival (Neo-Gothic)
• Arts and Crafts

• William Morris
• Philip Webb