John Ruskin: The Adopted Venetian
Unknown photographer, John Ruskin, 1856
John Ruskin, one of the most important writers of the nineteenth century, focused much of his work on the city of Venice. Though he is best known for his architectural treatise The Stones of Venice, his interest in the city was visible in several of his earlier works as well, particularly Modern Painters and The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Looking at each of these works, there are three major themes that Ruskin focuses on: the superiority of the Gothic style, the relationship between art and morality, and a warning to his fellow Britishmen to avoid becoming a fallen empire like Venice. While Ruskin was not the first to deal with these themes, he was the first to present them in a detailed and fully developed manner, making him one of the most influential critics of modern times, as well as the preeminent critic on Venetian architecture.
Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture
Ruskin’s World: Nineteenth-Century England
The “Final Paper” link will take you to the research paper “John Ruskin: The Adopted Venetian,” as well as other posts related to both this project and others.
