 Morris was heavily influenced by the writings of the art critic John Ruskin , being particularly inspired by his chapter " On the Nature of Gothic Architecture " in the second volume of The Stones of Venice ; he later described it as " one of the very few necessary and inevitable utterances of the century " . Morris adopted Ruskin 's philosophy of rejecting the tawdry industrial manufacture of decorative arts and architecture in favour of a return to hand @-@ craftsmanship , raising artisans to the status of artists , creating art that should be affordable and hand @-@ made , with no hierarchy of artistic mediums . Ruskin had achieved attention in Victorian society for championing the art of a group of painters who had emerged in London in 1848 calling themselves the Pre @-@ Raphaelite Brotherhood . The Pre @-@ Raphaelite style was heavily Medievalist and Romanticist , emphasising abundant detail , intense colours and complex compositions ; it greatly impressed Morris and the Set . Influenced both by Ruskin and by John Keats , Morris began to spend more time writing poetry , in a style that was imitative of much of theirs . 
