The Nature of Gothic. a Chapter from the Stones of Venice. Preface by William Morris

by John Ruskin, William Morris (Introduction)

Ruskin's famous essay The Nature of Gothic first appeared as a chapter in his 1853 The Stones of Venice. It proved highly popular and took on a life of its own. Ruskin inspired Morris. This essay added fuel to another phase of the Gothic Revival in Britain. This facsimile reproduces Ruskin's essay together with a preface by Arts and Crafts designer William Morris, added to a reprint first published in 1889. Facsimile.

Genres: Art, Essays, Architecture, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Politics, School

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to know more about what makes architecture gothic, this outlines the spirit and characteristics of the style perfectly. I was reading it more with a view to what he was saying about society and work. I appreciated Ruskin's ideas about the need for workers to have some creative expression in what we do. That repetitive, mindless work is a form of slavery. But I disagree that the class hierarchy needs to be maintained and that we all have our station.

[Kwan-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read, but I think Ruskin might have narrowed down the idea of Gothic to... such a specific criteria that it's a wonder that any buildings can be considered Gothic haha... also he seems kinda classist ngl

[shems · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m a sucker for this kind of writing, but i was a bit tired of it sometimes

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with insights. More to follow.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fine selection. Ruskin sees architecture like no modern would . This bears re-reading.

[Afra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[...] Sappiamo che la genziana cresce sulle Alpi, e l'olivo sull'Appennino, ma non siamo in grado di immaginare il variegato mosaico di superficie terrestre che un uccello vede durante la migrazione, la differenza tra la zona della genziana e quella dell'olivo, che la cicogna e la rondine scorgono dall'alto, quando scivolano sulle ali dello scirocco. Cerchiamo, per un momento, di salire anche più in alto di loro, e immaginiamo che il Mediterraneo si stenda sotto di noi come un gran lago frastagliato, con tutti i suoi antichi promontori addormentati nel sole; qua e là una macchia temporalesca, un grigio nembo di tempesta che si muove sui campi riarsi, qua e là il candido pennacchio di fumo di un vulcano, circondato da un anello di ceneri; ma per lo più si apre sotto di noi una grande serenità di luce: Siria e Grecia, Italia e Spagna, incastonate come frammenti di un mosaico dorato nell'azzurro profondo del mare; segnate –se ci avviciniamo ancora– dai bugnati delle catene montuose; dolcemente splendenti di giardini terrazzati, di fiori grevi d'incenso; disseminate di macchie di alloro, aranci e palme piumose, che mitigano, con le loro ombre grigioverdi, il bagliore accecante delle rocce marmoree e degli scogli di porfido che spuntano dalla sabbia lucente. Procediamo ora verso nord, finché vedremo i colori dell'Oriente trasformarsi gradualmente in vaste zone di verde intenso: i pascoli della Svizzera, i pioppeti della Francia, le scure foreste del Danubio e dei Carpazi, che si stendono dalle valli della Loira a quelle del Volga, occhieggiando tra gli squarci dei grigi vortici delle nubi cariche di pioggia, e tra gli strati di bruma che si leva dai ruscelli e si propaga bassa sui pascoli; e poi, più a nord ancora, vediamo la terra corrugarsi in possenti masse di roccia plumbea e in brughiere ricoperte d'erica, confinanti con un vasto deserto di porpora cupa, cinto di campi e boschi; frantumarsi in sinistre e irregolari isolette sperdute nei mari settentrionali, percosse dalle tempeste e strette nella morsa dei ghiacci alla deriva, tormentate dalle impetuose spinte delle maree contrastanti; sempre più a nord, fino a dove le radici delle ultime foreste si arrestano sull'orlo delle gole montuose, e i morsi furiosi del vento riducono a un arido deserto le vette; e, infine, la parete di ghiaccio, indistruttibile come il ferro, ci volge contro, portatrice di morte, i candidi denti fuori dal crepuscolo polare..."

[Brody Eldridge]

While "The Nature of Gothic" is technically a selection from Ruskin's larger work The Stones of Venice, most consider this chapter (Nature of Gothic) to be its own piece of writing. In edited selections of Ruskin, "Nature" is probably the most anthologized, referenced, and familiar to readers of Victorian literature. Ruskin's arguments for gothic architecture, or specifically the neo-gothic revival he wants, boil down to six points. And yet, all six of his points go far beyond gothic design, piercing into a Victorian Christian understanding of human nature. His description of the gothic points to an interesting philosophy of truth, nature, and morality in the arts. Ruskin can be abrasive to the modern reader, however, as Ruskin's elitism and racism is quite frankly dreadful. Some of his attitudes are inexcusable for many reasons. But when Ruskin's ethos and philosophy is parsed through, a curious case study emerges, and whether taken in Ruskin's Victorian context or generally, I think there is something to be learned from within "The Nature of Gothic."

[Max Rudd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been waiting to read this one for a while. Check the link below for my full review:

https://youtu.be/IOb5oRjIIwQ

[Aaliya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐

[anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

bring back real beauty.

[Jm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinda started this as a joke but Ruskin offers an interesting perspective on the gothic style that could also lend itself to timely critiques of AI

[Rhianna Roughton]

Sure I guess

[Theodoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leuke mix van stil staan bij een bouwstijl maar ook meteen een cultuur kritisch werk. Vooral ook hoe werk zou moeten zijn is bijna 200 jaar later nog actueel.

[blythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this! read for a supos but I got into it more than i had expected