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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A seated figure George Romney

  • Curator’s description:

    Description

    The figure shows a figure of uncertain gender, seated and facing three-quarters to the left, their head turned to face the viewer. They are wearing a long dark gown, and a shawl or a long wig. Cook and Wedderburn described the figure as 'a study for a portrait of a judge, as one may tell from the wig' (XXI.24 n. 1).

    One of a set of drawings by Romney, first catalogued by Cook and Wedderburn in 1906 in the Standard Series, as '29-34. "Original Studies of Figures for Portraits" (by Reynolds).' However, Ruskin described the drawings as being in the second cabinet of the Reference Series - the position they occupied in 1906 - in his 1878 revision of the Rudimentary Series catalogue (fol. clv); in 1872 he simply described them as being in the Reference Series (Rudimentary Series catalogues, pp. 50-1). These may be the drawings Ruskin described in a letter to Frederic (later Lord) Leighton of June 1863 as 'some dashes in sepia by Reynolds', and which he hoped Leighton would come and see in Denmark Hill (XXXVI.446).

    This is the only one of these drawings whose position in the collection, at least in 1906, can be accurately determined: the 'study for a portrait of a judge' was identified by Cook and Wedderburn as no. 32.

    Although referred to by Ruskin as being by Reynolds, the drawings are clearly by Romney. In his instructions on using the Rudimentary Series, Ruskin describes how sepia drawings should be done speedily using a flat wash - these drawings, 'among the most valuable examples of art in the rooms', presumably embodied this technique (Rudimentary Series catalogues, pp. 50-1). In the notes for his 1878 revision of the Rudimentary Series, Ruskin compared them with Rudimentary Series no. 290, one of his studies of 'leafage' enlarged from a photograph, sketched in a single wash.

    In his 1870 lecture on "Likeness", Ruskin compared this drawing to an unidentified modern Italian print of Saint Cecilia: the drawing was better because, although sketchy, it was done by someone who actually knew what a judge looked like, and could only be fully appreciated by someone who also knew what a judge looked like; the author of the Saint Cecilia print apparently did not know how she should be clothed (Aratra Pentelici, § 125 = XX.284). Ruskin made a similar point in a passage intended for his 1871 lecture on "Light and Shade", subsequently deleted (published in Lectures on Landscape, § 32 = XXII.33 n. 1).

  • Details

    Artist/maker
    George Romney (1734 - 1802)
    Object type
    drawing
    Material and technique
    grey wash over graphite on grey laid paper
    Dimensions
    459 x 297 mm
    Provenance

    Possibly John Ruskin by June 1863; presented by John Ruskin to the Ruskin Drawing School (University of Oxford), 1875; transferred from the Ruskin Drawing School to the Ashmolean Museum, c.1949.

    No. of items
    1
    Accession no.
    WA.RS.STD.032
  • Subject terms allocated by curators:

    Subjects

  • References in which this object is cited include:

    References

    Brown, David Blayney, Ashmolean Museum Oxford: Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings, iv: The Earlier British Drawings: British Artists and Foreigners Working in Britain Born Before c. 1775 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), no. 1563

    Ruskin, John, Instructions in Practice of Elementary Drawing, Arranged with Reference to the First Series of Examples in the Drawings Schools of the University of Oxford (n.p., [1872])

    Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercises Arranged for the Lower Drawing-School (London: Smith, Elder, 1872)

    Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercise Arranged For the Lower Drawing-School (London: Spottiswoode, 1873)

    Ruskin, John, ‘Rudimentary Series 1878’, 1878, Oxford, Oxford University Archives

    Ruskin, John, ‘Aratra Pentelici: Six Lectures on the Elements of Sculpture, Given Before the University of Oxford in Michaelmas Term, 1870’, Edward T. Cook and Alexander Widderburn, eds, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition, 39 (London: George Allen, 1903-1912), 20

    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. Standard no. 29-034

    Ruskin, John, ‘Lectures on Landscape: Delivered at Oxford in Lent Term, 1871’, Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, eds, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition, 39 (London: George Allen, 1903-1912), 22

Location

    • Western Art Print Room

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