Aratra Pentelici collects the seven lectures on the elements of sculpture that John Ruskin delivered as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford in 1870. Taking Greek sculpture as his ideal, Ruskin examines the relation of sculpture to drawing, the meaning of imitation, and the moral and spiritual conditions that he believed great carving required, ranging characteristically from technique to ethics.
The lectures combine close attention to coins, gems, and statuary with Ruskin’s sweeping convictions about beauty and society. They form one of the central statements of his Oxford teaching on the visual arts. This free EPUB download is cleanly formatted for any e-reader.