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

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

Ruskin's Catalogue of Examples (1870)

Ruskin's first catalogue with notes containing his plans for the Standard, Reference and Educational series.

Examples cover

Ruskin's Catalogues: 1 object

Show search help

Search Help

Ruskin assembled a diverse collection of artworks for his drawing school in Oxford, including watercolours by J.M.W. Turner and drawings by Ruskin himself.  He taught students to draw as a way of educating them in how to look at art and the world around them.  

Ruskin divided his Teaching Collection into four main series: Standard, Reference, Educational and Rudimentary. Each item was placed in a numbered frame, arranged in a set of cabinets, so that they all had a specific position in the Collection (although Ruskin often moved items about as his ideas changed). 

When incorporated into the Ashmolean’s collection in the last century, the works were removed from the frames and the sequence was lost.  Here, Ruskin's original catalogues, notes and instructions - in his chosen order and in his own words - are united with images of the works and links to modern curatorial descriptions.

Ruskin's Catalogues

© University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum

Reference URL
?

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

A Gothic Mansion Turner

  • Ruskin text

    45. Gothic mansion. Early drawing by Turner, probably when he was a boy of 15 or 16.

    Of the shape that it should be? Yes. And to that end we must sometimes pencil it in very carefully first.

    Try either the forms of the white clouds in colour, or those of the building in pencil, and you will soon know what to think of the assertion that Turner could not draw.

  • Details

    Artist/maker
    Turner (Joseph Mallord William Turner) (1775 - 1851)
    Object type
    drawing
    Material and technique
    watercolour over graphite on wove paper
    Inscription
    J.M.W. Turner R.A.
    Provenance

    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.EXAMPLES.ED.045
  • Subject terms allocated by curators:

    Subjects

    building

    landscape

  • 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. 45

    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

    • Western Art Print Room

Ruskin's Catalogues

  • Ruskin's Catalogue of Examples (1870)

    45. Gothic mansion. Early drawing by Turner, probably when he was a boy of 15 or 16.

    Of the shape that it should be? Yes. And to that end we must sometimes pencil it in very carefully first.

    Try either the forms of the white clouds in colour, or those of the building in pencil, and you will soon know what to think of the assertion that Turner could not draw.

Arts and Humanities Research Council

University of Oxford

The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art

Ashmolean

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum