Interior of St. George’s Museum, Walkley, Sheffield

IN THIS CHAPTER I examine the iconography of labour in relation to the geography of improvement. My central subject is the varied oeuvre of the artist and designer Godfrey Sykes, in which the image of men at work forms a unifying motif. In varied...

John Ruskin saw education as a radical tool for reshaping society and was adamant that his lessons should be accessible across social classes.For more information on Ruskin’s diverse interests as an educator, see Valerie Purton, ed., John Ruskin and Nineteenth- Century Education (London and New York: Anthem Press,...

John Ruskin remains perhaps the most eloquent of all writers on art in the English language. His passionate rhetoric, marrying the authoritative cadence of the King James Bible with the vivid imagery of the Romantic poets, introduced generations of Victorian readers to modern and historical art. His role in cementing the critical legacy of the work of Joseph Mallord William Turner, and in...