John Ruskin

Although the celebrated art critic and poet John Ruskin was not a Sheffielder by birth, his name lives on in the city through the Ruskin Art Gallery. Ruskin founded the Guild of St George in 1871 and first visited Sheffield in 1875 when the Guild founded the St George's Museum at Walkley.

The museum was built to house a collection arranged by Ruskin for the people of Sheffield, including prints, plaster casts, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, books, minerals, geological specimens and coins. By 1890 the museum had outgrown the Walkley cottage and was moved to Meersbrook Park.

In 1963 the collection was moved to the University of Reading but returned to Sheffield in 1985 when the renamed Ruskin Gallery opened in Norfolk Street. The gallery still houses the collection, including the Ruskin Library, which is held in trust by the Guild of St George.

Besides his connection with Sheffield, Ruskin is better known as an art critic, especially as a passionate defender of Turner and the young pre-Raphaelites. His works include the multi-volume Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones Of Venice.