Sarah Quill

Please describe yourself and your areas of interest.

Over the past four decades I have worked for long periods in Venice, building up a photographic archive of the city's architecture and daily life. My architectural research there was initially inspired by having read Ruskin's 'The Seven Lamps of Architecture' and 'The Stones of Venice' in the early 1970s. In 2004–7 I worked as Venice consultant for Lancaster University's electronic edition of Ruskin's Venetian notebooks. As a photographer of Venetian architecture I have a particular interest in Ruskin's engagement with early photography, his collection of daguerreotypes of Venice and the extent to which these influenced his watercolours of architectural details. An essay that I contributed to the catalogue of the 2018 exhibition at Palazzo Ducale, 'John Ruskin: le Pietre di Venezia', was published in Italian as 'Ruskin, i dagherrotipi, l'uso della fotografia'. A new and extended edition of my book 'Rusin's Venice: the Stones Revisited' has recently been published in an Italian translation. I lecture regularly in the UK and in Italy, principally on Venetian subjects, and am a trustee of the Venice in Peril Fund, the British charity for the preservation of Venice.

Why did you become a Companion of the Guild?

I became a Companion of the Guild because of my longstanding interest in and admiration for John Ruskin and his works.

Web link: www.sarahquill.com