In the 1880 preface he writes rather poignantly, but ponderously it must be said: Europe was on fire, but he spent much of 1848 in Salisbury and Normandy studying the Gothic, then retired for the winter to Park Street, Mayfair to write. It is incredible to believe that this should be written in 1848. (xvi)ġ848-49…such momentous years! Revolutionary years. The Seven Lamps of Architecture was written during the first year of Ruskin’s marriage to Effie Gray, but no trace of that unconsummated, mutually humiliating, six-year ordeal can be found in its pages. He is just so very very certain about every damn thing.įrom the introduction, a sad insight into a life of wealth, privilege, and difficulty in relating to other human beings. Such loftiness doesn’t quite make sense of all of Octavia Hill’s absurdities, who was his student and protege, but puts them a little more in context. The purple and ponderous privilege of some of this prose erases the sting I hope. Lol was in fact my first reaction, I write it here, more than once, for the first time in this blog. It has passages where the earnestness goes beyond all possible bounds and I laughed out loud. It’s easy to see why Ruskin is always paired with William Morris in the same architectural breath. It celebrates the beauty of skilled craftsmanship and manual labour. It has lovely passages that in truth could make you see and think differently. This contains so much of such desperate earnestness it cannot help but be touching. The Seven Lamps are also just a little bit mad: Sacrifice, Truth, Power, Beauty, Life, Memory, Obedience. I loved many of the footnotes, poetry, sideways meanders. Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture is an odd book, unexpected after all I had read of it.

The seven lamps of architecture summary