Modern Painters, volume 1 of 2, Of General Principles and Of Power

Philosophy of fine art, first published in 1843. According to Wikipedia: "John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was an English art critic and social thinker, also remembered as a poet and artist. His essays on art and architecture were extremely influential in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Ruskin first came to widespread attention for his support for the work of J. M. W. Turner and his defence of naturalism in art. He subsequently put his weight behind the Pre-Raphaelite movement. His later writings turned increasingly to complex and personal explorations of the interconnection of cultural, social and moral issues, and were influential on the development of Christian socialism... He went on to publish the first volume of one of his major works, Modern Painters, in 1843, under the anonymous identity "An Oxford Graduate". This work argued that modern landscape painters—and in particular J. M. W. Turner—were superior to the so-called "Old Masters" of the post-Renaissance period... Ruskin followed Modern Painters I with a second volume, developing his ideas about symbolism in art."