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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Engraving of a Portrait of Ramesses III, from his Tomb at Biban el-Moluk Alessandro Ricci

  • Curator’s description:

    Description

    The print shows an Egyptian man standing in profile, accompanied by identifying hieroglyphs in a cartouche. He is Ramesses III (reigned c.1187-c.1156 BC), as portrayed in his tomb at Biban el-Moluk (the Valley of the Kings) (Porter & Moss, "Topographical Bibliography", 2nd ed, Oxford (Clarendon Press & Griffith Institute): 1960-1999, vol. I, pt 2, p. 524).

    The image is one of six such portraits in one plate forming part of a series representing the kings and queens of ancient Egypt, and is taken from the first volume of plates from Ippolito Rosellini's "Monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia", published in 1832. In the "Catalogue of Examples", Ruskin listed amongst the Educational Series '16. "Egyptian costume." B, C, &c., the same. Rosellini, Tavole, tom. i. pl. 17.' No. 16 is identified by Cook and Wedderburn (XXI.61) as figure 6 from pl. 17, presumably on the basis of Ruskin's instruction to 'draw the spotted head-dress very carefully'. However, the number of subsequent frames covered by Ruskin's '&c.' remains unclear, although his reference to the single plate in his catalogue entry suggests that they were all from one plate. It seems a reasonable assumption that all six images from Rosellini's pl. XVII were included, and they have been listed in the present catalogue accordingly, arranged arbitrarily on the basis of their sequence within the plate.

    The plate was first catalogued by Ruskin in the "Catalogue of Examples" of 1870 (see above). However, it did not reappear in any of his subsequent catalogues, and so was not part of the collection transferred to the University in the Deed of Gift of 31 May 1875. As it can no longer be found, it is represented here by a plate from the volume in the Sackler Library of the University of Oxford.

    In a note in "The Ethics of the Dust", explaining how the individual aspects of the Egyptian deities were still largely unknown, Ruskin was somewhat sceptical of Rosellini's qualities: 'for the full titles and utterances of the gods, Rosellini is as yet the only - and I believe, still a very questionable - authority' (Ethics of the Dust, note III = XVIII.363). In his entry below nos 176-180 in the Reference Series, Ruskin again questioned Rosellini's accuracy, noting that the colours were sometimes conjectural, 'slight traces of the original pigments, and those changed by time, being interpreted often too arbitrarily' (Standard and Reference Series catalogue, p. 22).

  • Details

    Artist/maker
    Alessandro Ricci (active 1828 - 1829)
    Giovanni Paolo Lasinio (1789 - 1885) (engraver)
    Object type
    print
    Material and technique
    watercolour and bodycolour over engraving in red and black ink on wove paper
    Dimensions
    [250 x 123 mm (approx., stone)]
    Associated place
    Inscription
    Both engraved:
    above the image: 11
    below the image, left of centre: R.
    below the image, right: Lasinius fil. direx.
    Provenance

    Recorded in the Ruskin Drawing School (University of Oxford), in 1870; not recorded in the collection subsequently.

    No. of items
    1
    Accession no.
    EXAMPLES.ED.016.etc.iii
  • Subject terms allocated by curators:

    Subjects

  • References in which this object is cited include:

    References

    Ruskin, John, Catalogue of Examples Arranged for Elementary Study in the University Galleries (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1870), cat. Educational no. 16.etc.

    Rosellini, Ippolito, I monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia: Disegnati dalla spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in Egitto: distributi in ordine di materie, 12 (Pisa: Presso N. Capurro, 1832-1844), pt I, Tavole, pl. XVII, no. 11

    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

Location

    • not found

Ruskin's Catalogues

  • Ruskin's Catalogue of Examples (1870)

    16. Egyptian costume. B, C, &c., the same. Rosellini, Tavole, tom. i. pl. 27.

    Draw the spotted head-dress of 16 very carefully, observing how pleasantly grouped and varied the spots are; in vulgar work they would be placed without thought. The more you can copy of these figures the better, always measuring with precision.

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