12 Dec John Ruskin

John Ruskin was born in London in 1819. His home from 1871 until his death in 1900 was Brantwood on Coniston Water in the Lake District. This lovely house is filled with paintings, furniture and Ruskin’s personal treasures. In the nearby village of Coniston there’s the Ruskin Museum, which celebrates the literary and cultural history of the Coniston area.

Today Ruskin is remembered as an original social thinker who put forward many of the principles underlying the modern welfare state. He was also the greatest art critic of the Victorian era: his first major work was Modern Painters (five volumes, 1843-60). His other major work, The Stones of Venice (three volumes, 1851-53), considers the relationship between medieval craftsmanship and modern manufacturing. It points towards Ruskin’s increasing interest in social justice and his efforts to develop the notion of an ideal society.