<p>Modern Painters is a five-volume work by the eminent Victorian art critic, John Ruskin. The work placed emphasis on symbolism in art, expressed through nature and it was influential on the early development of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Ruskin wrote Modern Paintings for 17 years updating it and adding later volumes in subsequent years. The book was primarily written as a defense of the later work of J. M. W. Turner. Ruskin argues that re...