The Harbours of England (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

In 1856, while Ruskin was in the midst of his monumental Modern Painters, the great British cultural theorist jumped at the chance to pen commentaries to accompany a dozen plates by J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851).  Ruskin’s illuminating text, the only book he wrote on commission, makes for a unique work in the annals of art history.