Stones of Venice

John Ruskin, the most influential Victorian art critic, was always fascinated by the melancholy beauty of Venice. During his fourth visit to the city in 1849 he began work on the first volume of what was to become his masterpiece: THE STONES OF VENICE.In some of the most splendid prose of the nineteenth century he describes and explains the three main styles of Venetian architecture - Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance - providing not only an unsurpassed analysis of the flowering of Southern Gothic, but a wonderful guide to the sea-city.Ruskin illustrated most of the important buildings of Venice in delicate and evocative watercolors. Many of these are reproduced in this volume, together with his plates and many of his meticulous drawings. In this sensitively designed new edition of his great book, superb color and monochrome photographs show what he could not.