Ashmolean The Elements of Drawing, John Ruskin’s teaching collection at Oxford

The drawing has suffered: the top right corner is missing, there are several tears along the top edge, which has been creased, there is a long crease running diagonally across the top right corner, and there is a small hole between the lion's chin and his neck. The surface has been rubbed, smudging the chalk, and the paper is stained (particularly noticeable on the verso, presumably from an acidic backboard). There is a splash of brown paint in the shading below and to the right of the lion's ear.

The drawing shows the head of a lion, in profile to the right. It is enlarged, practically line for line, from Ruskin's graphite "Sketch of the Head of a Living Lion", no. 47 in the Rudimentary Series, being about four-and-a-half times larger than Ruskin's study. The network of squares across Burgess's drawing will have aided the process of enlargement.

The drawing was first catalogued by Ruskin in the Standard and Reference Series catalogue of 1872, when it was placed alongside drawings and photographs of medieval Italian sculpture (including lions) as no. 75 in the Reference Series. It must date from after Ruskin's drawing, made, according to Cook and Wedderburn (XXI.179 n. 2), in 1870, and its appearance in the catalogue in 1872. Paul Tucker, writing in the exhibition catalogue "Ruskin and Tuscany" (no. 107), suggests that it may have been made in connection with Ruskin's lectures on "The Relation of Natural Science to Art" (published as "The Eagle's Nest"), which were delivered in February and March 1872.