Art, Literature, History and Visual Cultures

Ruskin was a transformative art critic and educator. He sought to understand the world by close looking and conveyed his insights through a combination of word and image. His ideas set the cultural agenda of his era and continue to shape current thinking about art, architecture and heritage. Today, his best-known works remain Modern Painters (1843–1860) and Stones of Venice (1851–1853).

Ruskin campaigned for education for all throughout his life and laid claim to having invented modern ideas like ‘outreach’ and ‘social engagement’. The novelist George Eliot ‘venerated’ him as ‘one of the great teachers of the day’ and the Collection is structured by pedagogic principles. Ruskin began his teaching career as a tutor at the Working Men’s College, London, and later became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University.