What is John Ruskin?
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | name = John Ruskin | image = John Ruskin 1863.jpg | imagesize = 220px | caption = John Ruskin in 1863 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1819|2|8|df=y}} | birth_place = 54 Hunter Street, [[Brunswick Square]], [[London]], [[England]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1900|1|20|1819|2|8|df=y}} | death_place = [[Brantwood]], [[Coniston, Cumbria|Coniston]], [[Lancashire]], England | occupation = Writer, art critic, draughtsman, watercolourist, social thinker, philanthropist | nationality = | citizenship = English | education = | alma_mater = [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], [[University of Oxford]]<br />[[King's College London]] | period = [[Victorian era]] | genre = | subjects = | movement = | notableworks = ''[[Modern Painters]]'' 5 vols. (1843–60), ''[[The Seven Lamps of Architecture]]'' (1849), ''[[The Stones of Venice (book)|The Stones of Venice]]'' 3 vols. (1851–53), ''[[Unto This Last]]'' (1860, 1862), ''[[Fors Clavigera]]'' (1871–84), ''Praeterita'' 3 vols. (1885–89). | spouse = Effie Gray (1828–1897) (marriage [[annulment|annulled]]) | awards = | signature = John Ruskin signature 1880.svg }} '''John Ruskin''' (8 February 1819&nbsp;– 20 January 1900) was the leading [[English people|English]] [[art]] [[critic]] of the [[Victorian era]]. He was also an art patron, [[drawing|draughtsman]], [[watercolour]]ist, a prominent social thinker and [[philanthropist]]. He was hugely influential in the last half of the 19th century, up to the [[First World War]]. Ruskin wrote on a wide range of subjects. These included [[geology]], [[architecture]], [[myth]]s, [[ornithology]], [[literature]], [[education]], [[botany]], and [[political economy]]. In all his writing, he emphasised the connections between [[nature]], [[art]] and [[society]]. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of [[rocks]], [[plants]], [[birds]], [[landscapes]], and architectural structures and ornamentation. Ruskin first came to widespread at