The Stones of Venice [Paperback]

John Ruskin (Author), J.G. Links (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1985

”It is in Venice, and in Venice only, that effectual blows can be struck at this pestilent art of the Renaissance. Destroy its claims to admiration there, and it can assert them nowhere else.” This was Ruskin’s war cry as he entered the now almost forgotten Battle of the Styles on the side against ”the school which has conducted men’s inventive and constructional faculties from the Grand Canal to Gower Street.”But first the reader must know the difference between right and wrong; he must find out for himself the best way of doing everything. ”I shall give him stones, and bricks and straw, chisels and trowels and the ground, and then ask him to build, only helping him if I find him puzzled.”Unhappily, both these exciting objectives were attained only after the expenditure of nearly half-a-million words; glorious words, but too many. For fifty years, The Stones of Venice was read by all who went there and thousands who could not; the sightseers whom the city captivates today seldom have its greatest guidebook with them.It is the aim of this new edition to put a fascinating book within reach of travelers—active or armchair—with limited resources of time. Much that was superfluous has been omitted; what remains is the essence of a now very readable and portable book. It is a book for the lover of architecture, the lover of Venice, the lover of lost causes, and, perhaps above all, for the lover of fine writing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Treatise on architecture by John Ruskin. It was published in three volumes in 1851-53. Ruskin wrote the work in order to apply to the architecture of Venice the general principles enunciated in his The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Volume I, The Foundations, discusses architecture and its functional and ornamental aspects and presents a brief history of Venice. In Volume II, The Sea Stories, Ruskin discusses the Byzantine period and the climactic development of Venetian life, its Gothic period. In Volume III, The Fall, Ruskin puts forth his thesis that the onset of the Renaissance caused the city's architectural decline. Ruskin contended that Gothic architecture expressed "a state of pure national faith, and h domestic virtue" while Renaissance architecture expressed "concealed national infidelity, and h domestic corruption." -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

About the Author

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was the most influential art critic of the nineteenth century. A champion of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, he was a prolific writer. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 21, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306802449
• ISBN-13: 978-0306802447
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an architecture page turner, June 11, 2001

By 

steve estvanik (seattle, wa USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stones of Venice (Paperback)

This is an abridged version of the original 3 volumes, but a delightful book -- both for the opinions expressed and the wonderful pomposity with which they are presented. It's impossible not to learn about art and architecture from this book, but it also (perhaps not intentionally) makes Woody Allen's or Steve Martin's New Yorker pieces seem like downers. The man has no humility and there is no opinion other than his, yet somehow the clarity and vitality of his description allows you to continue reading. I was fortunate enough to pick this up in Venice, so I was able to search out his examples of the 5 worst buildings in Venice, and similar Ruskinisms.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is only a VERY SHORT EXCERPT!!!!, January 11, 2007

By 

Jerome Claverie - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stones Of Venice (Paperback)

This is misleading...not even 5% of the Ruskin masterwork is printed in this book.

45 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this edition is abridged, August 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Stones of Venice (Paperback)

I haven't read this yet, but I thought I would warn other buyers that this is not the full text of the Stones of Venice--it is abridged. J. G. Links seems confident that he has done so in an intelligent way; perhaps he will win me over...