Who was John Ruskin?
Q: Who was John Ruskin?
A: John Ruskin was a leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, social thinker and philanthropist.
Q: What did Ruskin write about?
A: Ruskin wrote on a wide range of subjects including geology, architecture, myths, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy.
Q: What did he emphasise in his writing?
A: In all his writing he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society.
Q: How did he come to widespread attention?
A: He 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.
Q: What role does he believe artists should have?
A: He argued that the principal role of the artist is "truth to nature".
Q: What organisation did he found?
A: He founded the Guild of St George which still exists today.
Q: Where did Ruskin become a professor at?
A: In 1869 he became Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University where he established the Ruskin School of Drawing.
