"The Gothic architecture arose in massy and mountainous strength, axe-hewn and iron-bound, block heaved upon block by the monk’s enthusiasm and the soldier’s force; and cramped and stanchioned into such weight of grisly wall, as might bury the anchoret in darkness, and beat back the utmost storm of battle, suffering but by the same narrow crosslet the passing of the sunbeam, or of the arrow. Gradually, as that monkish enthusiasm grew more thoughtful, and as the sound of war became more & more intermittent beyond the convent or keep, the stony pillar grew slender and the vaulted roof grew light, till they wreathed themselves into the semblance of the summer woods at their fairest . . ."
In The Nature of Gothic, we espy Ruskin's genius not only as an art historian but as a social critic too. "One of the very few necessary and inevitable utterances of the century", says William Morris in the Preface.
This reproduction for the Kindle is from William Morris’s Kelmscott Press edition, itself a work of art, and faithfully retains the beautiful typesetting and illustrations. It includes a table of contents for ease of navigation.
In The Nature of Gothic, we espy Ruskin's genius not only as an art historian but as a social critic too. "One of the very few necessary and inevitable utterances of the century", says William Morris in the Preface.
This reproduction for the Kindle is from William Morris’s Kelmscott Press edition, itself a work of art, and faithfully retains the beautiful typesetting and illustrations. It includes a table of contents for ease of navigation.
