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.
Wilton, Andrew, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner (London: Academy Editions, 1979), no. 318
Ruskin, John, The Ruskin Art Collection at Oxford: Catalogue of the Rudimentary Series, in the Arrangement of 1873, ed. Robert Hewison (London: Lion and Unicorn Press, 1984), cat. Rudimentary no. 128, RUD.128
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of Examples Arranged for Elementary Study in the University Galleries (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1870), cat. Educational no. 44
Herrmann, Luke, Ruskin and Turner: A Study of Ruskin as a Collector of Turner, Based on His Gifts to the University of Oxford: Incorporating a Catalogue Raisonné of the Turner Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum (London: Faber & Faber, 1968), no. 69
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]), cat. Rudimentary no. 128
Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercises Arranged for the Lower Drawing-School (London: Smith, Elder, 1872), cat. Rudimentary no. 128
Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercise Arranged For the Lower Drawing-School (London: Spottiswoode, 1873), cat. Rudimentary no. 128
Ruskin, John, ‘Rudimentary Series 1878’, 1878, Oxford, Oxford University Archives, cat. Rudimentary no. 129
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. Rudimentary no. 128
Ruskin, John, ‘Notes By Mr. Ruskin ... on His Drawings by the Late J. M. W. Turner, R. A., [and] on His Own Handiwork Illustrative of Turner’, Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, eds, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition, 39 (London: George Allen, 1903-1912), 13, no. 81 = XIII.463-464
Copy this as well as you can, and observe how the bloom and texture is beginning to come on the distant rocks, by the mere purity of the calmly-laid colour. And put out of your head, finally, any idea of there being tricks or secrets in Turner’s colouring. Flat wash on white paper, of the shape that it should be, and the colour it should be,—that is his secret.
A study by Turner at Scarborough, entirely authoritative as to his methods of work: all of these depending on his determining what he wanted from the beginning. The quantity, as well as the excellence, of what he did, depended entirely on this faculty. He never lost time in hesitation or strength in repentance; though frequently, going over his outline with colour, he would correct his errors with frankness; and you may nearly always know when he has done so, for he is pretty sure in such cases, as in this example, to leave the old outline behind.