Publisher's Synopsis
John Ruskin exerted a powerful and pervading influence on architects and architecture in the nineteenth century and his legacy can still be felt today. His highly individual (and idiosyncratic) prose encouraged the lay person to look and think about architecture and he covered strands as diverse as the choice of style, the use of polychromy, the relations between the workman and his work, and even between politics and the arts. In this book leading experts in Ruskin and architectural history re-examine these and numerous other issues, often providing wholly new insights into the man, his writings and his influence upon architecture and the cultural landscape of his day and since. The essays that make up this substantial and richly illustrated book, shed new and revealing light on the wide-ranging and profound influence of this great writer and thinker on architecture.