It is refreshing to read Ruskin's writings on art, which show his vast knowledge on the subject from the technical to the spiritual. Some of them are available from his lectures at Oxford University which have been compiled into the book Lectures on Art. He has divided this lecture series into:
The Relationship of Art to Religion
The Relationship of Art to Morals
The Relationship of Art to Use
And three more lectures on line, color and light.
Here is a pertinent quote (in view of my last post on avant-garde filmmakers trying to find the transcendent without God) from Ruskin's lecture "The Relationship of Art to Religion" [the complete lecture is available on the linked Google Books], which is more of an appeal to his students:
That we may have the splendour of art again, and with that, we may truly praise and honour our Maker, and with that set forth the beauty and holiness of all that He has made.No one writes like that anymore.