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

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

Educational, manuscript (1878)

Unpublished manuscript catalogue for proposed re-organisation.

Educational 3 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

© Copyright the Trustees of The British Museum

Reference URL
?

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

Sunrise on Etna John Ruskin

  • Ruskin text

    W.S.(2) 42 109.

    Ætna, at day-break, half past five o'clock on an April morning. The white vapour is not smoke but pure steam. I hope to better the sketch, but the solemnity of the scene itself justifies me, I think, in placing it here, for I never, until I saw it, had myself any conception of the purity of the stream of volcanic cloud, nor of the way it became heavenly cloud at last in peace. The height of the pillar above the crater is about 2000 feet, and its breadth about a quarter of a mile.

  • Curator’s description:

    Description

    This particular drawing can no longer be found in the collection, and is illustrated here by a surrogate, a drawing of the same subject made at half past four (about an hour earlier than the missing drawing) on the same day, in the collection of the British Museum (accession no. 1931-6-18-1).

  • Details

    Artist/maker
    John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
    Object type
    drawing
    Material and technique
    watercolour on paper
    Dimensions
    surrogate: 165 x 247 mm (approx.; sight size)
    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; not recorded in the Drawing School subsequently.

    No. of items
    1
    Accession no.
    WS.II.42
  • Subject terms allocated by curators:

    Subjects

    landscape

    mountain

    volcano

  • 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. 375

    Ruskin, John, ‘Educational Series 1878’, 1878, Oxford, Oxford University Archives, cat. Educational no. 109

    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. Working Series no. II.42

Location

    • not found

Ruskin's Catalogues

  • Educational, manuscript (1878)

    W.S.(2) 42 109.

    Ætna, at day-break, half past five o'clock on an April morning. The white vapour is not smoke but pure steam. I hope to better the sketch, but the solemnity of the scene itself justifies me, I think, in placing it here, for I never, until I saw it, had myself any conception of the purity of the stream of volcanic cloud, nor of the way it became heavenly cloud at last in peace. The height of the pillar above the crater is about 2000 feet, and its breadth about a quarter of a mile.

Arts and Humanities Research Council

University of Oxford

The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art

Ashmolean

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum