Quotes from book
Modern Painters

Modern Painters

Modern Painters is a five-volume work by the eminent Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, begun when he was 24 years old. Ruskin argues that recent painters emerging from the tradition of the picturesque are superior in the art of landscape to the old masters. The book was primarily written as a defence of the later work of J.M.W. Turner. Ruskin used the book to argue that art should devote itself to the accurate documentation of nature. In Ruskin's view, Turner had developed from early detailed documentation of nature to a later more profound insight into natural forces and atmospheric effects. It was in his 1842 visit to Switzerland that Ruskin collected material used to form the basis of Vol One. Ruskin added later volumes in subsequent years. Volume two placed emphasis on symbolism in art, expressed through nature. The second volume was influential on the early development of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He produced three more volumes, with the fifth and final volume appearing in 1860.


John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo

“In painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter your manner.”

Volume V, part VIII, chapter III (1860).
Modern Painters (1843-1860)

John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo

“All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the "Pathetic Fallacy."”

Volume III, part IV, chapter XII (1856).
Modern Painters (1843-1860)
Variant: All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the pathetic fallacy.

John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo

“He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas.”

Volume I, part I, chapter II, section 9 (1843).
Modern Painters (1843-1860)

John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo

“In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.”

Volume IV, part V, chapter III, section 22 (1856).
Modern Painters (1843-1860)

John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin photo

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