A Comparative Analysis of Ruskin’s and Wilde’s Writings on Art

The paper starts by describing the historical context in which John Ruskin appeared on the British art scene. It was the period strongly influenced by the new political ideas and by the industrial revolution, but it was also the peak of British colonial power and the start of queen Victoria's reign. At the time, art in Britain was dominated by the movement called The Gothic Revival. Ruskin initially disagreed with its ideas, but later became one of its most prominent figures. Next chapter focuses on Ruskin's most famous works and analyses the ideas and philosophy behind them. Although controversial for his age, by the 1870s Ruskin became one of the most revered art critics, praised in intellectual circles all over the United Kingdom. It was during that decade that he faced an emerging opposition through Walter Pater - an aesthetic thinker and professor at Oxford, who developed a new doctrine influenced by the French idea of ‘l'art pour l'art’. With his famous work The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry, Pater stirred great interest and influenced the new generation of thinkers, Oscar Wilde being the most famous among them. The paper proceeds to describe Wilde's written work, focusing on his essays on art and his constant need to reconcile the opposing views of his two mentors, Pater and Ruskin. The conclusion draws comparison between Ruskin and Wilde, discovering the greatest similarities and differences between the two thinkers. It also emphasizes their great importance and the massive influence they had on the development of the critical thinking and art of the 20th century