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John Ruskin

Born

in London, England, The United Kingdom

February 08, 1819

Died

January 20, 1900

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Poetry, Arts & Photography

Influences

Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, Archibald Alison ...more

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

John Ruskin was an English writer, philosopher, art historian, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy.
Ruskin was heavily engaged by the work of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc which he taught to all his pupils including William Morris, notably Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionary, which he considered as "the only book of any value on architecture". Ruskin's writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. He wrote essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. He also made Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

John Ruskin was an English writer, philosopher, art historian, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy.
Ruskin was heavily engaged by the work of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc which he taught to all his pupils including William Morris, notably Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionary, which he considered as "the only book of any value on architecture". Ruskin's writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. He wrote essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, architectural structures and ornamentation. The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art gave way in time to plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society.
Ruskin was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century and up to the First World War. After a period of relative decline, his reputation has steadily improved since the 1960s with the publication of numerous academic studies of his work. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.
Ruskin first came to widespread attention with the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), an extended essay in defence of the work of J.M.W. Turner in which he argued that the principal role of the artist is "truth to nature". From the 1850s, he championed the Pre-Raphaelites, who were influenced by his ideas. His work increasingly focused on social and political issues. Unto This Last (1860, 1862) marked the shift in emphasis. In 1869, Ruskin became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, where he established the Ruskin School of Drawing. In 1871, he began his monthly "letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain", published under the title Fors Clavigera (1871–1884). In the course of this complex and deeply personal work, he developed the principles underlying his ideal society. As a result, he founded the Guild of St George, an organisation that endures today. ...more

Combine Editions
John Ruskin’s books

Average rating: 3.7 · 10,741 ratings · 1,238 reviews · 4,076 distinct works • Similar authors

	The King of the Golden River 3.93 avg rating — 2,079 ratings — published 1851 — 468 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On Art and Life 3.81 avg rating — 1,162 ratings — published 1853 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Traffic 2.82 avg rating — 1,392 ratings — published 2015 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Seven Lamps of Architecture 3.83 avg rating — 964 ratings — published 1849	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin, J.G. Links (Editor) 3.91 avg rating — 761 ratings — published 1853 — 202 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sesame and Lilies 3.55 avg rating — 487 ratings — published 1865 — 456 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unto This Last and Other Writings by John Ruskin, Clive Wilmer (Editor) 3.93 avg rating — 393 ratings — published 1860 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unto This Last 3.81 avg rating — 269 ratings — published 1860	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Elements of Drawing 3.83 avg rating — 263 ratings — published 1857 — 199 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Writings by John Ruskin, Dinah Birch (Editor) 3.90 avg rating — 228 ratings — published 1900 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Ruskin…

Series by John Ruskin

Praeterita (4 books)
by

John Ruskin,

Kenneth M. Clark (Introduction, Revised Edition)

3.85 avg rating — 115 ratings

Cambridge Library Collection - Works of John Ruskin (13 books)
by

John Ruskin,

Edward Tyas Cook (Editor),

Alexander Wedderburn (Editor)

3.74 avg rating — 58 ratings

Quotes by John Ruskin (?)

“To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality.”
― John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

858 likes

“It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.”
― John Ruskin

tags: love, pride

559 likes

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ”
― John Ruskin

390 likes

See all John Ruskin's quotes »

Polls

January 2026 Short Story/Novella Poll

Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf

31 votes, 24.0%

The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain

28 votes, 21.7%

A River Runs through It Title Story by Norman Maclean

21 votes, 16.3%

Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin

11 votes, 8.5%

Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

11 votes, 8.5%

The Daughters Of The Late Colonel by Katherine Mansfield

9 votes, 7.0%

The Verger by W. Somerset Maugham

7 votes, 5.4%

The Gifts of War by Margaret Drabble

5 votes, 3.9%

The Outcasts of Poker Flat and Other Tales Title Story by Bret Harte

4 votes, 3.1%

The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin

2 votes, 1.6%

129 total votes

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