Literature · Art · Philosophy · 1819–1900
Born: 8 February 1819 · Died: 20 January 1900 · Age at death: 80
John Ruskin died aged 80. He was born on 8 February 1819 and died on 20 January 1900.
Victorian art critic of Modern Painters and The Stones of Venice who championed Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites
Did you know?He was an exceptionally skilled draughtsman whose detailed drawings of architecture and nature helped illustrate his many books.
John Ruskin was the most influential art critic of the Victorian age. The only child of a wealthy wine merchant, he drew and travelled from boyhood. Modern Painters defended J. M. W. Turner. The Stones of Venice praised Gothic craftsmanship. He championed the Pre-Raphaelite painters. Later he turned to social reform, attacking the cruelty of industrial capitalism. His ideas inspired the founders of the Labour Party and the National Trust.
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was an English polymath – a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era.
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Profile
English art critic and thinker, 1819–1900
John Ruskin was born in London on 8 February 1819.
Modern Painters began in 1843.
The Stones of Venice appeared from 1851.
He wrote Unto This Last in 1860.
Career highlights
Did you know?Gandhi said Unto This Last changed his life.
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