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

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

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The Tomb of Ilaria del Caretto in the Duomo, Lucca John Ruskin

  • Curator’s description:

    Description

    The drawing shows the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto (died 1405), the second wife of Paolo Guinigi, ruler of Lucca. Carved by Jacopo della Quercia c.1406-8, it is in the north transept of the Duomo in Lucca. The tomb is seen side-on from the south, with the transept wall behind it, from level with the top, so that Ilaria, lying on her back, her head resting on two pillows and her feet supported by a dog, is seen in profile. When drawn by Ruskin, it was placed against the transept wall, being moved to its current, free-standing position in 1891 (XXIII.222 n. 1; XXXIV.xxxii n. 2).

    Using Ruskin's diaries and correspondence, Taylor has elucidated the sequence in which Ruskin worked on this and three other drawings of the tomb (two details of the head in the collection of the Ruskin Foundation, and another view of the whole tomb) in the summer and autumn of 1874. He seems to have begun work on this drawing on 9 August, after a break from the other drawing of the whole tomb which had proven unsuccessful. He continued to work on it on 11 and 14-17 August then, after a time spent away from Lucca, on 17 and 19 September. He appears to have found the drawing difficult and tiring.

    The drawing was first catalogued in the Oxford collection only in 1906, by Cook and Wedderburn, as no. 79 in the Reference Series - a position which had always been left empty by Ruskin in his catalogues.

    His first sight of the tomb marked a major turning point in Ruskin's life: writing in Fors Clavigera, letter 45 (§ 2 = XXVIII.146), he noted how 'Thirty years ago [in the spring of 1845], I began my true study of Italian, and all other art, - here, beside the statue of Ilaria di Caretto, recumbent on her tomb. It turned me from the study of landscape to that of life, being then myself in the fullest strength of labour, and joy of hope.' (Cf. Stones of Venice, Epilogue § 5 = XI.239.)

    Consequently, he devoted much space to it in his writings, most notably in his lecture on Jacopo della Quercia in the series on the Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools of Florence, delivered on 24 December 1874 (§§ 45-48 & 57-68 = XXIII.221-3 & 228-35) and in "The Three Colours of Pre-Raphaelitism" in 1878 ( §§ 23-25 = XXXIV.170-172). Historically, the tomb represented a central and transitional point in the development of tomb sculpture, 'being the last Florentine work in which the proper form of the Etruscan tomb is preserved, and the first in which all right Christian sentiment respecting death is embodied' (Three Colours, § 24 = XXXIV.170). The notion of balance was fundamental to Ruskin's attitude to the tomb, which furnished 'an instance of the exact and right mean between the rigidity and rudeness of the earlier monumental effigies, and the morbid imitation of life, sleep, or death, of which the fashion has taken place in modern times' (Modern Painters, vol. II, ch. vii, § 7 = IV.122-4; cf. Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools, §§ 58-61 = XXIII. 228-30.) It managed to unite 'in perfect and errorless balance the softest mysteries of emotion with the implacable severities of science' (Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools, § 46 = XXIII.222).

    In the execution of the effigy, Jacopo had avoided pride, decoration, terror and curiosity in the effigy - whilst the depiction of Ilaria was a masterpiece of naturalism, he had carefully restrained this to avoid any flashy display of artistic effect (Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools, §62-4 = XXIII.230-1). It was, in its depiction, 'supremely right' (Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools, § 47 = XXIII.222) and 'Evermore lovely and right' (Three Colours, § 25 = XXXIV.172).

    Ruskin also made much of humble Italians' appreciation of the tomb, compared with the ignorance of its qualities displayed by 'respectable' figures (Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools, §§ 66-8 = XXIII.232-4; letter to Carlyle, from Lucca, 16 August 1874 = XXVII.131).

  • Details

    Artist/maker
    John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
    after Jacopo della Quercia (?1372 - 1438) (sculptor)
    Object type
    drawing
    Material and technique
    watercolour and bodycolour over graphite on paper, some lines ruled
    Dimensions
    217 x 488 mm
    Associated place
    Provenance

    Presumably presented by John Ruskin to the Ruskin Drawing School (University of Oxford); first recorded in the Ruskin Drawing School in 1906; transferred from the Ruskin Drawing School to the Ashmolean Museum c.1949

    No. of items
    1
    Accession no.
    WA.RS.REF.079
  • Subject terms allocated by curators:

    Subjects

  • References in which this object is cited include:

    References

    Taylor, Gerald, ‘John Ruskin: A Catalogue of Drawings by John Ruskin in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’, 7 fascicles, 1998, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, no. 290

    Ruskin, John, ‘The Ruskin Art Collection at Oxford: Catalogues, Notes and Instructions’, Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, eds, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition, 39 (London: George Allen, 1903-1912), 21, cat. Reference no. 79

Location

    • Western Art Print Room

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